Community perspectives of former terrorist combatants, militants and reintegration programmes in Nigeria: a systematic review

Abstract

ABSTRACT Community perspectives of repentant terrorist combatants and militants alongside the trust accorded reintegration programmes are important for successful reintegration. This review attempt to fill a significant gap through the synthesis of evidence on community perspectives of interventions adopted to foster reintegration of former terrorist combatants and militants in Nigeria. Six databases including the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts, Web of Science, Scopus, Proquest and EBsco were searched. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Informed by the principles of thematic analysis and conceptual framework of synthesis, five themes emerged: (1) Design of reintegration programmes devoid of community consultation; (2) Scepticism towards the sincerity behind monetising rehabilitation and reintegration programmes; (3) Resistance towards reintegration due to perceived favourable incentives provided to repentant combatants; (4) Lack of confidence in the genuine repentance of former repentant combatants; and (5) Lack of confidence in government’s reintegration programme. The review recommends randomised controlled trials which incorporate context-specific community-centred interventions to encourage successful reintegration.