The Governor of Kaduna State, Dikko Radda has said that there was not a single day that he didn’t receive a report about kidnapping or banditary in the state since he assumed office.
The Governor stated this Friday while addressing a press briefing in Abuja.
He stated: ” As you are all aware, Katsina State is one of the States that is affected by banditry, kidnapping and all sorts of criminalities.
“Lives and property are lost. People are being disrupted from performing their daily legal activities in terms of economic development of the State and the essence of government is to protect lives and property of the people.
“Since I became governor, there is not a single day I will not receive reports of one kidnapping or the other. People being killed and all sorts, and this has been disturbing me. Sometimes it is difficult to open my phone because I know what I will be confronted with.”
The governor lamented that the state governors are Chief Security Officers of their state only on paper because they have no power to command the military, police or the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Crops.
The governor lamented that bandits operate within the communities, adding that there was no way banditry could be fought without the locals.
Radda noted that as part of his administration’s intervention to tackle insecurity in the state, 2,500 people were trained out of which 1,500 were recruited for community policing.
His words: “We didn’t consider certificates or qualifications, what we were concerned about was their ability to protect their parents and loved ones.
“The reason we choose these people is because they were directly affected: their parents were killed, their sisters were raped, so they have more courage to do this job.
“They know the locations of these people, they know their whereabouts. When they came we began to train them, those who couldn’t stand the rigours of the training were sent back and we were left with about 1,500.
“After the training, we commissioned them and gave them all the required equipment to perform their assignment. We provided over 700 motorcycles, Hilux vehicles, 10 armoured vehicles and other security gadgets and equipment they needed to confront the bandits.”