Adebayo Shittu: Government should rehabilitate bandits, give them a promising future

Adebayo Shittu, former minister of communications, says the government should negotiate with bandits, rehabilitate them and hand them a promising future. 

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Shittu said bandits are “very intelligent” people, adding that only a non-kinetic approach would curb the spate of banditry and terrorism in Nigeria.

The former minister said bandits are wreaking havoc in the country because “society has abandoned them over the years”.

“If I am in position, it is not too late to use non-kinetic measures in negotiating with bandits, giving them a promising future,” Shittu said.

“Let us retrain them. Many of them are very intelligent and able-bodied… for the purpose of resettling, rehabilitating, and retraining them.

“What is the cause of wanting to kill everybody? It is because society has abandoned them over the years. We know that they are citizens of Nigeria.

“If they are assured that a promising future awaits them after going through the radicalization process and skill training, there will be less propensity to go back.

“The amount of money we are spending on the armed forces to confront these people, it looks like their number is endless. In the bush, we have thousands of groups, especially in the north-west and north-east.

“Instead of wasting too much money on acquiring arms and ammunition, let us find a way. After every war, there must still be people coming to the roundtable and negotiate.”

There has been an uptick in banditry and kidnapping for ransom across Nigeria in the last decade.

While one school of thought has advocated for a degrading of bandits through increased militarisation, the other has proposed a rehabilitation and reintegration of terrorists.

In 2016, the military launched Operation Safe Corridor, an initiative for the deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration (DRR) of Boko Haram members.

In July 2020, 602 Boko Haram members denounced their membership of the terrorist group after completing their DRR training.

Days later, some residents of Borno kicked against the reintegration of repentant Boko Haram members.