Nigeria’s Justice Gamble with Boko Haram Surrenders By Umar Farouk Bala
On April 22, 2025, Borno State held a ceremony celebrating the graduation of nearly 400 “repentant” Boko Haram fighters—individuals once associated with acts of terror across Nigeria’s northeast.
The event was heralded as a step toward lasting peace. Yet beneath the surface lies a complex dilemma: how can reconciliation efforts be truly meaningful without justice?
The military’s Deradicalization, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (DRR) programme has become central to Nigeria’s response to insurgency. While its intentions may be noble, the programme risks placing symbolic gestures ahead of substantive accountability.
True peace must rest on the twin pillars of justice and healing. According to official figures, over 129,000 insurgents and their family members have surrendered in recent years. However, only a small number have faced prosecution.
Many are enrolled into rehabilitation programmes, receiving vocational training and psychosocial support—without first being subjected to judicial processes.
It is important to emphasize that those involved in terrorism are not ordinary offenders. The horrors inflicted by Boko Haram—ranging from mass abductions and bombings to the use of child soldiers and widespread displacement—have left deep scars on communities.
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For many victims, the pain remains fresh. Can empowerment tools alone atone for such devastating harm? Justice should never be optional. Nor should it be overshadowed by the optics of reintegration.
A meaningful counter-insurgency strategy must ensure that accountability comes first. Rehabilitation, while valuable, must follow due legal process.
Assuming that extremist ideology can be undone through a short-term programme is overly optimistic. Deradicalisation is a complex, long-term journey, and many of those who surrendered may have done so out of necessity—not transformation.
Moreover, the reintegration of individuals into communities without clear judicial outcomes creates anxiety and uncertainty among survivors. It risks sending a troubling message: that reconciliation is possible without responsibility.
Nigeria’s counterterrorism framework needs thoughtful review. Justice mechanisms must be strengthened. Investigations and prosecutions should be prioritized. And the concerns of victims—many still residing in displaced persons’ camps—must be elevated in national discourse.
Modern tools such as digital profiling, intelligence analysis, and community-based surveillance can enhance the credibility of rehabilitation efforts. But none of these tools can substitute for a fair and transparent judicial system.
Peace is not merely the absence of war—it is the presence of justice. For Nigeria to secure lasting stability, reconciliation must go hand-in-hand with accountability.
Umar Farouk Bala is a serving corps member at PRNigeria Centre, Abuja. He can be reached at: [email protected].
