Nigeria bets on deradicalisation programme in North West
The Nigerian government wants to rehabilitate and reintegrate bandits who have terrorized the North West zone. But will expanding Operation Safe Corridor be enough to end the killings and instability in the region?
The government of Nigeria said it was expanding its deradicalisation programme, Operation Safe Corridor, to the country's North West region to tackle rising insecurity. The geopolitical zone comprises the states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
The North West has been locked in a decade-old conflict as criminal gangs, otherwise referred to as bandits, raid villages and run a large kidnap-for-ransom industry. They are known to sexually assault women, kill citizens, and tax locals across vast swaths of northern Nigeria.
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Chief of Defence Operations Emeka Onumajuru, who represented General Christopher Musa, the chief of defence staff, said the deradicalisation programme is "vital to breaking the cycle of terrorism and banditry through a structured pathway for rehabilitation and reintegration" of bandits. The programme has also been used to deradicalise former Boko Haram fighters in the North East zone.
Deradicalization efforts yield results in North East
So far, Nigerian officials say Operation Safe Corridor has been instrumental in the fight against insurgency in the North East. The programme aimed to rehabilitate former insurgents who surrendered or defected, reintegrating about 2,190 repentant terrorists back into the society.
The initiative is built on five pillars, says Onumajuru. These are: disarmament, demobilisation, deradicalisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
While the programme has been relatively successful in the North East region, concerns have been raised about recidivism, with reports of some rehabilitated individuals returning to terror groups.
Now with the intended expansion of the program to the North West, analysts have raised questions about Operation Safe Corridor's effectiveness. This is because the banditry in North West is largely driven by financial incentives like ransom payments, cattle rustling, and illegal mining, rather than ideology.
Can Operation Safe Corridor repeat successes?
Samuel Malik, a senior researcher at the pan-African think tank Good Governance Africa, believes the replicating the programme is not inherently flawed. He says only "kinetic responses" that involve aggressive measures, often with military action, cannot solve Nigeria's security challenges.
But Samuel Malik adds the programme can only succeed in the North West "if it is properly structured, monitored, and adapted to local realities, rather than being a rushed initiative."
"Deradicalisation is effective when dealing with individuals who have been indoctrinated into violent extremist ideologies," Samuel Malik said.
Oluwole Ojewale, an analyst with Dakar-based Institute for Security Studies, said the problem with "Safe Corridor" is that it was developed for terror groups who share extreme views.
"If what the government wants to do is demobilisation, it is quite in order. But they cannot afford to copy and paste what they did in the North East and replicate the same in the North West," he told DW.
Deep-rooted problems remain
Critics of Operation Safe Corridor have said the programme is perpetrator-centered and risks being seen as a reward system for terrorists.
Dengiyefa Angalapu, a counterterrorism and peacebuilding researcher, said this argument is reductionist. He told DW the initiative can be implemented in the North West as there are multiple actors in the region, including ideological terror groups, which often get generalized under the catchphrase of banditry.
Dengiyefa added that the deep-rooted grievances among herders prompt some to take up arms and make the initiative suitable for the region.
"Kinetic strategy alone cannot lead to a decline in terrorism. This is an initiative that should be expanded to other parts of the country to provide a national framework for countering terrorism," he told DW.
The analysts seem in agreement that this strategy should involve local peacebuilding mechanisms and economic empowerment to prevent relapse.
"While certain elements of the initiative such as psychological support, vocational training, and community reintegration remain crucial, the government should prioritise economic reintegration, conflict resolution, and mechanisms that prevent re-engagement in criminal activities," Samuel said.
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