The Defence authorities have said that not less than 800 members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect had surrendered to the military in the last three weeks.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, confirmed to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday that 800 of the insurgents surrendered to the troops of the Nigerian Army in the last three weeks.

He said, “I can confirm that about 800 of the Boko Haram members have surrendered to the military.”

Abubakar spoke barely 24 hours after the Defence Headquarters announced the establishment of a rehabilitation camp for repentant Boko Haram members.

Abubakar had said in a statement on Tuesday that the rehabilitation camp was being established under Operation Safe Corridor which was created as a platform to rehabilitate and integrate repentant members of the sect to the society.

He had said that the insurgents would be made to go through vocational training under the programme and empowered for reintegration into the society.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army said on Wednesday that it had rescued 11,595 captives of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East in the last one month.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Wednesday that some of the hostages were rescued from the communities erstwhile under Boko Haram control in the North-East while others were received from Cameroon.

He stated that out of the figure, the troops of the 155 Task Force Battalion received 10,000 refugees from the Cameroonian authorities at Banki and the Bama area on March 1, 2016.

Usman said that the Army Headquarters Special Forces Battalion rescued 779 captives at Fotokol general area between Nigeria and Cameroon in addition to 63 others freed from Boko Haram at Maleri, Borno State.

He added that the troops of the 254 Task Force Battalion also rescued 45 persons at Kuaguru, while 143 Battalion similarly rescued 27 persons at Gadayamo,15 at Galadadani Dam in Madagali and 10 persons from Disa village in the first week March, 2016.

The Acting Army spokesman added that troops of the 22 Brigade and their counterparts from the Army Headquarters Strike Group freed 309 hostages from the Boko Haram at the Kala Balge general area on March 23, 2016.

According to him, similar efforts yielded results with the rescue of 48 men, 85 women, 137 children at Zahdra and Weige villages by troops of the 25 Task Force Brigade on March 30, 2016.

Copyright PUNCH.