How we’re turning tide against bandits, reducing insecurity in Katsina — Gov Radda
By Citizenship Daily
The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umar Radda has outlined steps and strategies he has adopted to combat insecurity and bring banditry and criminality to an end in his state.
The strategies were outlined in his first anniversary state broadcast earlier on May 29.
Gov Radda’s Community Watch Corps, comprising1,466 fully trained personnel, has been repositioned to fasttrack policy implementation on security and intelligence matters.
“Security is paramount for everything we hope to achieve as a state. A year ago, on this day, I called on all criminal elements, especially the bandits and terrorists, to abandon their ways and return to peaceful existence in their communities.
“I warned them that we will not relent in our drive to bring peace and security to our people. Many of them are not going to be witnesses to my speech today, and those who do not leave this path of killing and kidnapping our people will not be with us this time next year, Insha Allah,” Gov Radda said in what seemed a riot act to criminal elements operating in Katsina State.
He said “Our people have suffered this injustice and indignity for far too long at the hands of those criminals, and I will never accept this.
“Our expenditure on security is unprecedented, and we will not relent in our primary responsibility to protect lives and livelihoods.
“Insecurity has become a business, and I am afraid more must be done to fight it. Cattle rustling and kidnappings are multi billion naira criminal enterprises that prey on our most vulnerable youth and women to perpetuate unimaginable atrocities on rural communities.”
According to Dr Radda, “We must also accept that for decades, vast spaces of our State have remained ungoverned, with very little done for their socioeconomic development.”
He daid that fighting poverty will be a giant leap toward fighting insecurity in Katsina state, and his administration is determined to use kinetic and non-kinetic approaches to solve this problem.
“We spent about 1.5 billion on complete tactical combat equipment for the Katsina State Community Watch Corp, and we sustained the payment of monthly security operations allowances to security personnel in the State to the tune of 208 million.
“This is in addition to 10 units of Armoured Personnel Carriers, 65 Branded Hilux vehicles, 700 Motorcycles, surveillance drones, a communication network, trackers, and other related working materials at a total cost of approximately 11 billion Naira.
“In line with our strategy for community participation in the fight against insecurity, the State has engaged 918 Local Government security committee members and 9,747 ward security committee members,” the Governor said.
He recalled that recently, the State administration had established Hisbah Board to teach good values and check societal vices being perpetrated across the nooks and crannies of the State. “We also established a committee on encroached cattle routes and grazing reserves to checkmate farmers-herders conflict,” he noted.
He also established a joint Security Operations Communication Centre to improve intelligence gathering and assist security agencies in carrying out operations at all the security flashpoints in the State.
“We have recorded much success in the fight against insecurity, and I will summarize a few of them.
“We have drastically reduced the areas colonized by bandits and returned many communities to normalcy.
“565 kidnapped victims have been rescued and reunited with their families.
“35 armed bandits have been neutralized by law enforcement, over 300 assorted arms, and over 1000 ammunition have been recovered.
“We have also recovered motorcycles, vehicles, and a J5 bus from bandits during operations.
“This is in addition to many we have destroyed as we proactively dismantle this axis of evil.
“We have also arrested 363 bandits and subjected them to our fair judicial system.”
Gov Radda clarified that his administration’s fight against insecurity maintained strict professionalism, abided by the rule of law, respect for human rights, and complied with global best practice.
