The Federal Government has allocated around N1.4 billion over the last 18 months for rehabilitating former terrorists and establishing terrorism trial centres.
Following the signing of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari on May 12, 2022, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was created.
In December 2022, the government revealed plans to establish two centres dedicated to disarmament, deradicalisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of ex-Boko Haram fighters and other terrorist groups.
Punch reports that Rear Admiral Yem Musa (retd.), the coordinator of the NCTC, confirmed to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence that N2.4bn would be allocated to these centres as part of the NCTC’s N3.8bn capital projects for 2023.
According to data from the GovSpend platform, between December 2022 and May 2024, the Ministry of Justice expended a total of N1.4bn on these rehabilitation centres and the renovation of facilities for terrorism trials.
This included N612m spent in March 2023 to renovate abandoned structures for terrorism trials and build dormitories for the rehabilitation of repentant terrorists under Operation Safe Corridor.
In 2024, an additional N179m was spent on similar projects, including the procurement of equipment to aid terrorism case prosecutions.
READ MORE: https://parallelfactsnews.com/374679-robbery-cases-unreported-in-2024/
Meanwhile, the NCTC recently announced that it had secured 325 convictions during the Phase 5 and Phase 6 trials at the Kainji Detention Facility. Convictions ranged from the death penalty to life imprisonment, with sentences depending on the severity of the crimes committed
Despite this, concerns have arisen over the secretive nature of these trials. Security experts and civil society organizations have raised questions about why such trials are conducted behind closed doors, given the gravity of the crimes involved.
Some argue that transparency is critical for public trust, while others believe that secrecy is necessary for security reasons. The government has yet to provide a clear explanation for this approach.
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