‘Mama Boko Haram’ launches NGO to rehabilitate youths

Barrister Aisha Alkali Wakil, popularly called Mama Boko Haram, has renewed her commitment to fight to end the Boko Haram insurgency with the launching of her NGO to rehabilitate the youth against ‘warped ideologies misleading them’ to join the terror group.

Aisha Wakil, who participated in the mediation between government and the insurgents conducted by the Kabiru Tanimu Turakiled committee during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, earned the name ‘Mama Boko Haram when she called the insurgents ‘my children’ during a broadcast programme on Borno Radio and Television.

Her NGO, Complete Care and Aid Foundation, is also to provide a free feeding centre, fight drug abuse and substance addiction, sex hawking, human trafficking, female genital mutilation and de-worming among persons displaced by the insurgency.

The Guest Speaker, Dr. Bulama Mali Gubio, said Wakil went bankrupt and almost lost her life in attempt to achieve peace in the heat of the Boko Haram insurgency.

“I am sure that if she is fully supported by well-meaning individuals within the state and outside, she will make a big impact in solving the problems of Boko Haram in the state,” Mari said.

He regretted the level of destruction that the Boko Haram insurgency had inflicted on the people of Borno State, saying the people must take responsibility and rise above the challenges of the crisis to reclaim their land.

In his address, Governor Kashim Shettima who was represented by the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Youth Empowerment, Hajiya Inna Galadima, said the NGO came at the time when Borno State was in dire need of partners to curb the problems associated with Boko Haram insurgency.

He asked the NGO to immediately draw out MoUs and strategic partnership with relevant ministries in the state with the full support of the state government.