Marisa L. Porges and Jessica Stern, “Getting Deradicalization Right”, Foreign Affairs, May/June 2010, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/persian-gulf/2010-05-01/getting-deradicalization-right. As of March 2017, around 300 men are thought to be in internment camps near the western Chadian town of Baga Sola, without any clear strategy for what do with them.Having given a brief overview of the deradicalisation schemes or plans in four countries in the Lake Chad Basin, this paper now explores Nigeria’s Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) in depth. It appears that there is little, if any, consultation on the programme with local and external experts from a broad array of pertinent fields. It was dismantled after one year, in which it dealt with 63 women, including families of senior commanders.This paper has outlined Nigeria’s approach to deradicalisation, homing in on the case of Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC). But this strategy, especially the aspects dealing with deradicalisation and reintegration, remains mostly on paper.
Despite this, and although others may have done so since, the Cameroonian government lacks a clear policy on how to deal with the militants, according to an International Crisis Group report.At the start of 2018, the government formed an inter-ministerial committee on deradicalisation. The programme started with a nine-man committee that worked out the modalities for implementing the programme’s mandate, including developing the framework of a deradicalisation programme. In the case of OPSC, is surrendering, giving up on Boko Haram, repenting and willingly enrolling in a state deradicalisation programme enough to suggest a change of tune? Nigeria has the most developed approach to deradicalisation in the region and should lead as an example for others in the fight against Boko Haram. Sara Brzuszkiewicz, “Saudi Arabia: the de-radicalization program seen from within”, Italian Institute for International Political Studies, 28 April 2017, https://www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/saudi-arabia-de-radicalization-program-seen-within-16484. Each programme serves a specific type of participant and was developed by a different organisation (see table 1). This is because these women, as wives of Boko Haram elites, were empowered by status, choice and ability to make decisions over other women. This is to reduce the threat of the clients falling back into old practices with former connections. Proponents of the second approach measure success according to indicators such as whether the radicalised extremists provide intelligence to authorities and encourage other extremists to leave the group.Another factor contributing to the challenge of measuring success is the gap between academic theories and the implementation of deradicalisation. The SCIP had an unintended spinoff. 8) Where is Lake Chad located? In such situations, there is still an evident need for deradicalisation. In the words of an OPSC camp commandant, “if someone has toothache or a headache, or isn’t sleeping, there is very little chance of engaging them in the deradicalisation process. Martins, OSCE camp commandant, Gombe, October 2018. The group’s violence has led to the deaths of over 50,000 people, displaced over 2.5 million and triggered a large-scale humanitarian crisis across the region.Very little is known, internationally or domestically, about Nigeria’s approach to deradicalisation. Is it possible to screen individuals adequately to measure their threat level?