The Borno State Government has successfully reintegrated approximately 8,000 former Boko Haram insurgents and their families into society as part of an ambitious de-radicalisation and rehabilitation programme.
Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, disclosed this milestone on Saturday while addressing the progress and challenges of the state’s reintegration efforts in Maiduguri. She credited Governor Babagana Umara Zulum’s leadership for driving the initiative, which she described as a critical pillar of ongoing peace-building and recovery in the North-East.
“The initiative… has achieved about 75 per cent success,” Gambo stated, highlighting the programme’s role in addressing the humanitarian fallout from large-scale surrenders.
According to the commissioner, the wave of surrenders created significant responsibilities for the state, prompting the creation of structured rehabilitation programmes. Many of those who surrendered were not hardcore frontline fighters but individuals in logistical and support roles within the insurgent networks. The majority comprised women and children, many arriving with deep trauma, experiences of gender-based violence, psychosocial challenges, and little prior exposure to formal society or modern infrastructure.
“These are women coming out with trauma, gender-based violence experiences, and psychosocial challenges,” Gambo said. She added that some children “had never lived in structured communities or seen modern infrastructure before their arrival at rehabilitation centres.”
In response, the government has deployed social workers and established temporary learning centres, healthcare facilities, and skills acquisition programmes to facilitate smooth rehabilitation.
Gambo firmly dismissed concerns that rehabilitated individuals were returning to insurgent groups, noting that those who surrender are often rejected by the very networks they left behind.
