Boko Haram rehab centre leaves Gombe residents worried

The location of a de-radicalisation and rehabilitation centre for captured Boko Haram insurgents in Gombe State is generating anxiety among residents, Punch reported.

Roughly 500 insurgents have been said to be camped at the National Youth Service Corps Orientation Centre in the state, an activity that has left the people apprehensive.

A gender activist, Mrs. Dudu Manuga disclosed this during a meeting for increasing accountability for women affected by conflict in the North-East for policy influence, organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre in Abuja.

The meeting convened civil society organizations and activists engaging in women and girls advocacy in the North-East.

Manuga disclosed that Gombe residents were worried because of the possible release of the former terrorists in the state after completing their de-radicalization programme and the security implications of this.

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She said, “The people in Gombe are worried about what would happen if the insurgents were released in the state after their programme. About 500 of the Boko Haram members were kept in the NYSC Orientation Camp while a secondary school is now used as the NYSC camp.”

“People are worried about what would happen after their rehabilitation; Will they be released in Gombe? People are apprehensive,” she added.

Also speaking at the meeting, the WARDC Executive Director, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi said that girls and women were the most affected by the insurgency in North-East, adding that over 1.9 million people were displaced.

She said her organisation was deeply concerned about how the conflict had contributed to social exclusion as well as increased rural poverty, illiteracy,higher maternal mortality and indescribable suffering.