Governor Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina state has explained how his administration expended about N13 billion to tackle bandits and kidnappers in the state within the last one year.
In an address to the people of the state to commemorate his first year in office, he said he expended the sum of N1.5 billion on completion of tactical combat equipment for the Katsina State Community Watch Corp.
He also explained that he sustained the payment of monthly security operations allowances to security personnel in the State to the tune of 208 million.
This, he said 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 N11 billion Naira.
He further stated that in line with the strategy for community participation in the fight against insecurity, the State engaged 918 Local Government security committee members and 9,747 ward security committee members.
The Governor who expressed satisfaction with ongoing effort to tackle insecurity said: “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 ammunitions 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 subjective them to our fair judicial system.
“I want to reiterate that in our fight against insecurity we have maintained very high professionalism, abided the rule of law, respect for human rights, and complied with global best practice.
He explained that the resolve by the state government to established the Hisbah Board to teach good values and check societal vices being perpetrated across the nooks and crannies of the State was aimed at keeping the peace in the state.
He added: “We also established a committee on encroached cattle routes and grazing reserves to checkmate farmers-herders conflict. Furthermore, a joint Security Operations Communication Centre was established to improve intelligence gathering and assist security agencies in carrying out operations at all the security flashpoints in the State.”
