Deradicalised Boko Haram women have appealed to the Borno State Government to provide them with job opportunities, saying this will help them become self-reliant.
Speaking during their visit to the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency (BOSEPA) in Maiduguri on Tuesday, led by the Al-Amin Foundation for Peace and Development, the women said giving them jobs would enable them to take care of their children and dependents.
According to them, “We have small children and nobody is willing to help us with food and other needs. We want to enroll our children in school and cater for them.”
One of the deradicalised women, Fatima Musa, said they were lured into the Boko Haram sect because of their love for religion. “We were deceived by the way they carried themselves in praying and preaching to the path of God, and we had little knowledge about Islam, even though we are Muslims,” she said.
Musa added that most of the surrendered Boko Haram members did so due to the conflict between the Shekau faction and the Habib faction. “Most of them came with the intention of going back to the bush if normalcy returns, but now, with the deradicalisation of members by the Al-amin Foundation, they no longer have any intention of going back to the forest,” she said.
Another deradicalised woman said they were fighting the government because of the misinterpretation of Islamic knowledge by their leaders. “We were deceived that confiscation of public and government properties is Halal in Islam, but now we have understood the truth,” she said. Hauwa Mohammed called on Nigerians to stop stigmatising and maltreating them.
Speaking, Hamsatu Al-amin, the Executive Secretary of the Al-amin Foundation for Peace and Development, appealed to the government to look at the plight of the survivors, victims and deradicalised women to achieve transitional justice in the state.
Al-amin urged the Borno State Environmental Management Agency to employ some of the deradicalised women, survivors, and victims of the insurgency.
“This will help in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency and restoration of peace in Borno State and the North-East region,” Al-amin said.
The Managing Director of BOSEPA, Abubakar Suleiman, responded by giving automatic job employment to five deradicalised Boko Haram women.
He promised to provide more opportunities to the victims, survivors, and deradicalised women, with the aim of ending the over-a-decade-long Boko Haram insurgency.
Suleiman called on Nigerians to stop stigmatising against the victims, survivors, and deradicalised women of Boko Haram insurgency, saying discrimination against them would further escalate the insurgency.
“We are committed to making sure Borno State is clean and safe for everyone, irrespective of their past, and giving them job opportunities will help achieve our goal of cleaning the state and making it safe for everyone,” he said.
