Centre de-radicalises 15 youth in Jos

15 youth from Jos north local government area of Plateau state have graduated from a de-radicalisation project following weeks of transformation training and skills acquisition.

The training which was organised by the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development (CCAPAD), an interfaith organisation, in collaboration with Mennonite Central Committee was aimed at sensitizing potential radicals from flashpoint communities against religious fanaticism and making them productive members of their communities.

The Executive Director of CCAPAD, Ahmed Salihu told journalists at the graduation that after series of research, it was discovered that splinters of Boko Haram insurgents were growing in many parts of the country adding that, “Jos is not an exception.”

He said, “We trained them for two weeks and introduced a mentorship programme for another two weeks. We made sure that they stepped down the training on their mentees by assigning them to go back to their local communities and see the potential trouble makers therein.

“So each of them selected two and stepped down whatever he acquired in the de-radicalization processes to that indirect beneficiary,” he said.

He noted that beyond the transformation, the youth were asked to choose skills and they were sent to the best trainers in the city and now we are giving them start up equipment and the communities would have the responsibility of monitoring their progress,” he said.