At the height of its powers last year, Boko Haram controlled about 14 local government areas in the northeast of Nigeria and the Civilian JTF had to be formed to provide intelligence and information. Made up of local people, the Civilian JTF knew the local terrain and helped guide the Nigerian Army as it stormed Boko Haram strongholds.
Over the last year, however, the Nigerian Army has made significant gains against Boko Haram, wrestling back control of most of the territory the sect held. No longer needing such a large vigilante group, the authorities are now pondering what to do with the Civilian JTF as they need to be put to productive use.
Some of the Civilian JTF members still patrol the streets of Maiduguri with machetes, hunter’s rifles and an assortment of homemade weapons. However, they too are wondering what will happen to them once the Boko Haram threat has been totally eliminated.
Bulama Mali Gubio, a leader of the Borno State Elders Forum, said: “The Civilian JTF are the saving grace for us in Borno State, in fact in northeast Nigeria as without their efforts, the Boko Haram insurgency wouldn’t have been put down by now. They organised themselves from each ward in the city and some of the major towns and started fighting their own friends, their own colleagues who were members of Boko Haram.”
Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, known for decades as the city of peace, is much safer than it has been in recent years. Business owners are re-opening shops and students are returning to school, while once abandoned gardens are back in full bloom along the roadside.
Abba Aji Kalli, the Civilian JTF state coordinator, said: “They have protected the integrity of this country so they should not be dumped by the government. Government should come in and help the members of CJTF.”
In 2013, the Borno State government officially adopted the Civilian JTF, giving members uniforms and promising to pay them a monthly stipend of about $100. Nearly 2,000 of them got some military training too.
However, today, they say they are not getting paid and rely on handouts and what work they can find. Many of its members want to enter the security forces and law enforcement agencies, such as the road safety task force and customs patrol and President Muhammadu Buhari has said he supports this idea.
In June, 350 Civilian JTF members joined the Nigerian Army after they passed through the recruitment process and last year the state security service accepted about 30 of them. Alhaji Gubio is worried that they now know how to handle arms and ammunition, so it would be dangerous to cut them loose.
"If after the insurgency you abandon them, then you are planting another seed of discord. They have sacrificed their lives, which is why we’ve been arguing with the government to make sure that something is quickly put in place before the end of the insurgency,” Alhaji Gubio added.
He proposes that the government give Civilian JTF members plots of land and assist them in getting married in a similar manner that the government of Kano State coordinates weddings for residents through its Sharia enforcement agency. It is not yet clear if some of them will want to return to full time education.
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