'They have no other home': CSOs back military's Boko Haram reintegration plan as Nigerians push back

• Civil society groups support Operation Safe Corridor despite public opposition to reintegrating ex-Boko Haram fighters.

• The military says the programme offers rehabilitation and reintegration for repentant insurgents.

• Many Nigerians and legal activists question its effectiveness and oppose granting amnesty without accountability.

Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria are standing behind Operation Safe Corridor, the military's programme for bringing repentant Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters back into society, even as ordinary Nigerians grow more resistant by the day.

On April 23, 2026, human rights lawyer Maxwell Opara walked into the Federal High Court in Abuja and filed a suit seeking to stop the military from reintegrating over 700 repentant Boko Haram insurgents. That filing ripped open a conversation many had shelved.

The programme, launched in 2016, takes in former fighters who surrendered or were captured, puts them through six to twelve months of counselling, religious classes, skills training, and civic education, then releases them back into their communities. Over 2,000 ex-combatants have gone through it as of 2025.

The military has been selling it as both practical and moral. In March, the Chief of Defence Staff invoked the biblical story of the prodigal son to make his case, arguing that since most of these men are Nigerian citizens, the country owes them a window to change, or risks pushing them deeper into the only life they know. 

“Well, the truth is that the terrorists are one of us before they were confused because of the situation and circumstances around us. It is very, very okay for them to be properly reintegrated into society”, the CSO spokesperson said

However, there is little hard evidence on whether graduates are actually staying out of trouble. No solid data on recidivism, employment, or how they are doing psychologically years after release. The graduation ceremonies make the news. What happens after largely does not.

Researchers have found that local communities, the very people these men are being sent back to, were never properly consulted or prepared, showing that the programme may be producing graduates on paper while failing at the actual work of reintegration.

There are also confirmed cases of rehabilitated individuals returning to insurgent activity, and widespread anger that fighters with blood on their hands are walking free without any public prosecution.

The public has made its position clear. Nigerians have continued to express their dissatisfaction with amnesty for former insurgents. 

Even in communities directly receiving returnees, elders describe the process as a "social gamble", one with no clear rules and real consequences for the people living next door to the men being reintegrated.

CSOs are not saying to abandon the programme. They are saying fix it: better screening, real post-release monitoring, and actual involvement of communities before the next batch arrives at their doorstep.

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