In four years, the National Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Committee, NDDRC, has made significant progress towards helping ex fighters.
Its National Coordinator Fai Yengo Francis painted a good image of the three centres hosting ex combatants of Boko Haram and ex fighters in the North West and South West regions. He granted an interview to the CRTV, aired on Sunday October 2 over Cameroon Calling. He revealed ex fighters continue to stream into the DDR Centres in the North West, South West and Far North regions. “We have 310 ex-fighters in Bamenda, 305 in Buea and 2505 in Mora,” the National Coordinator revealed, while saying that the centres remain open to welcome more ex fighters. “Just yesterday (Saturday September 1), they signalled eight boys in Bamenda (DDR centre), six from Awing and Batibo and two from Ngie,” he said
Fai Yengo also said ex combatants pursue academic studies at the centres. “One of our ex-fighters had Advanced Levels in Bamenda and another Ordinary Level. One in Buea passed in eight subjects at the Ordinary Level. This reflects part of what is happening in our centres,” he explained. He revealed that seven ex-fighters in Bamenda have registered for GCE exams, and the Buea centre would soon copy their example. He added that over 100 are attending elementary education in the Far North centre of Mora. Fai Yengo and his team are envisaging full scale schools at the centres. “We shall soon be running to the Minister of Secondary Education and her colleague of Basic Education to secure necessary legal instruments for this,” he said.
He went further to say authorities are doing all to keep the residents of the centres “comfortable, irrespective of the negative things they have done to the populations of the respective areas where they operated in the past”. “As of September 30, 2022, this centre has received a total amount of 130 million FCFA for the yearly upkeep of 300 ex-fighters”, he revealed. Besides the up keep of the residents, government is also thinking about their future. Multipurpose vocational training centres are being erected for the ex-fighters. The ex combatants will begin picking up set skills after being purged of radicalisation.
Fai Yengo then appealed to the population to preach peace and encourage young adults rooming the bushes to leave and join the DDR for a brighter future. He also expects the population to intercede with Cameroonians living abroad, and fanning flames of violence back home. “The population should help us by talking to their brothers, sisters and friends in the diaspora, who are still misleading these poor young men back home to carry arms, kill their people and destroy our infrastructure,” he pleaded.
Jude VIBAN
