GOMBE State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has pledged continued support to ex-Boko Haram members trainees after they completed their rehabilitation just as he promised to upgrade the skill acquisition centre in the state.
The governor made the remarks Friday during the graduation of 95 ex-members of the Boko Haram sect following the completion of their six weeks rehabilitation programme under the Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe state.
The governor who attended the event alongside his Deputy, Charles Iliya and some Commissioners, said that he is at the centre for the first time to congratulate the trainees and wish them well in their future endeavours as they turned a new lease of life.
He said, “I have heard your complaints about the need for a new mosque at the centre, adequate power supply, more skills ventures and every other need will be taken care of immediately.”
The governor added, “I am optimistic about your will to change for good and be better people out there in the society. The government will help you settle and assist you in all that you choose to do as law-abiding citizens of this country.”
The repentant Boko Haram members make up the Batch 1 and 2 of the more than 750 other former members of the group undergoing the programme in the state.
Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Maj-Gen Bamidele Mathew Shafa, said that the former fighters would be handed over to their respective state governments to proceed to their local governments and then their wards for resettlement.
While speaking at the occasion, Chief of Defense Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, who was represented at the event by Chief Department of Civil-military Cooperation at the Defense Headquarters, Rear Admiral Jonathan Ango, said at the moment, 254 ex-Boko Haram members are undergoing the programme, out of which 95 have completed their mandatory 16-weeks engagement.
On his part, one of the ex-Boko Haram trainees expressed concern whether or not they will be fully accepted in the society and plead for forgiveness for their past atrocities.
It is worthy of note that no single Gombe indigenes were among the 95 ex-members, this is no surprise as Governor Dankwambo has gainfully employed over 15,000 vulnerable youths and members of the society as traffic marshals, environmental officers and health workers through the same process of rehab and skill acquisition.
Reiterating this stance in a telephone interview, the Senior Special Assistant on Press, to the Governor, Junaidu Usman Abubakar explained that, “Governor Dankwambo has continued to design programmes and initiatives in all sectors to alleviate poverty and create inclusion to governance and its benefits to women as well as empower the youths in the state”.
He added that “It is an established fact that Talban Gombe inherited mass crisis on youths restiveness and other social vices but has properly addressed all of that in the state, while also taking good care of over a million IDPs mostly from neighbouring states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa”.
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