The Defence Headquarters yesterday said the Operation Safe Corridor, had handed over 86 Boko Haram child fighters, who voluntarily surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, to the Borno State Rehabilitation Centre in Bulumkutu.
Defence spokesman Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu said they were handed over to ensure that minors and other repentant Boko Haram fighters in the northeast were given the necessary support and opportunity to embrace peace.
He said the child fighters, between ages 10 and 19, were part of over 1,370 Boko Haram fighters who had so far surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole.
Nwachukwu said the arrangement was also ongoing to transfer another set of 500 repentant insurgents to Operation Safe Corridor for the De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Re-integration Programme.