The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has pledged support for Operation Safe Corridor (OSC), a federal government initiative focused on deradicalising, rehabilitating, and reintegrating repentant insurgents.
The agency made the commitment on May 2 when Yusuf Ali, coordinator of OSC, and his team, paid a courtesy visit to the NOA’s headquarters in Abuja.
Receiving the delegation, Lanre Issa-Onilu, NOA director-general, acknowledged “widespread misinformation” about OSC.
According to a statement on the agency’s X page, Issa-Onilu said he hitherto had reservations about the programme due to limited understanding, but now appreciates the initiative’s objectives and logic.
He described the programme as essential for national peace and security.
The DG said many of the programme’s beneficiaries “were not ideological extremists but victims of abduction, coercion, or manipulation during insurgent occupation in the north-east”.
He noted the importance of community-based reintegration, adding that without local and government support, many ex-insurgents remain isolated and vulnerable.
Isaa-Onilu lauded the military and security agencies for their efforts, while calling for increased public education to counter negative narratives and promote national unity.
In his remarks, Ali harped on the need to address insecurity through kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
The coordinator expressed concern about stigmatisation and misinformation that hinder reintegration and national cohesion.
He said the programme has been running for nearly a decade with support from UN agencies, state governments, traditional rulers, and religious institutions.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
