Repentant Boko Haram members to get free foreign education

Nigerian government to fund repentant Boko Haram members for foreign education.

Should ‘A Bill for the Establishment of the National Agency for the Education, Rehabilitation, De-radicalisation and Integration of Repentant Insurgents in Nigeria and for Other Connected Purposes’, be signed into law, repentant Boko Haram members will be funded to get foreign education.

“The agency shall implement programmes geared towards the rehabilitation of beneficiaries, engage the services of offshore and Nigerian institutions in the pursuit of the educational needs of ex-agitators,” section 5 of the bill read.

According to Punch, the bill which will offer repentant terrorists the opportunity to study abroad, will be funded by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Repentant Boko Haram members had arrived Maiduguri in Borno. [Premium Times] Pulse Nigeria

As stated in the bill, other sources of funding the rehabilitation of the repentant terrorists will include- donations, grants, annual subventions from the government and counterpart funding from the six North-East states of Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe.

The bill also provides that the agency would be funded by grants in aid, gift, testamentary dispositions, endowments and donations.

More so, the proposed law provides that the chairman of the board of the agency will be appointed by the president, subject to the confirmation of the senate.

It said the the governing council of the agency will have one representative from each of the north-east states, one representative each of the stakeholders, three representatives of the impacted communities, one person from the army, air force, navy, police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps — all of whom must not be below the rank of lieutenant colonel.

The council will also have one representative each from the federal ministries of humanitarian affairs, finance, environment, petroleum resources, North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and the local content board.

Meanwhile, 25 repentant Boko Haram members had arrived Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, after being set free.

The released Boko Haram members who arrived Borno in the company of soldiers, include men, women, and children, who recently surrendered to troops in Niger Republic.

Societal stakeholders, including soldiers in the front-line in the war against terrorists, had however expressed anger and disappointment as the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is determined to put in place a rehabilitation structure for Boko Haram fighters.

Addressing issues raised concerning the release of the repentant Boko Haram members, Borno Commissioner for Information, Babakura Jato said it is true that the insurgents were released in large numbers.

Jato said most of the persons released were not actually Boko Haram members, adding that they were relatives of terrorists or persons found in the wrong place at the wrong time.