Senator Ibrahim Gaidam representing Yobe East Senatorial District and former governor of Yobe State has sponsored a bill, “National Agency for Education, Rehabilitation, De-radicalisation and Integration of repentant insurgents in Nigeria which has been listed for first reading.
The bill which also passed through the first reading on the floor of the Senate on Thursday’s plenary which was presided by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege would be presented for second reading soon.
Though every detail of the bill has not been disclosed, excerpts indicate that the bill would create administrative structure to deal with repentant Boko Haram insurgents and other criminal elements willing to surrender so as to be absorbed into their normal life in the society.
The proposed agency was coming at the backdrop of the presidential intervention that created the Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) through Acts of the National Assembly in the 8th Senate.
The Commission has since taken off with a formal budgetary allocation in the 2020 annual budget.
Recall that Nigeria Military reportedly released about 1,400 Boko Haram fighters who earlier surrendered and subsequently deradicalised, a development that have been heavily criticised by the Nigerian public.