Security: CDS Launches Student Group to Tackle Violent Extremism

Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has inaugurated a student-led initiative—Students Against Violent Extremism (SAVE 1 & 2)—aimed at combating extremist ideologies in Nigeria's North-East through non-violent means.

At a multi-sector conference in Maiduguri, Borno State, General Musa urged youths to act as “non-combatant soldiers” by sharing intelligence with the military and using social media to counter terrorism narratives. The event also featured the launch of his book, Taking A Stand Against Insurgency and Terrorism.

The SAVE project, targeting students and youths in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States, forms part of the military’s non-kinetic strategy to defeat insurgency. General Musa stressed early engagement of young people in peacebuilding efforts and acknowledged the role of stakeholders in recent counterinsurgency gains.

He also visited wounded soldiers at Maimalari Military Hospital, where a philanthropist pledged to donate houses for injured troops.