Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda says the state government is planning to arm willing residents of terrorised communities to confront invading bandits, kidnappers and other criminals.
The governor said in Katsina at the 2025 Citizens’ Budget Participation Process and launch of the state’s Community Development Programmes at the weekend; “We have come up with an initiative that for any community ready to defend itself, we will give them necessary support and training to engage criminals before the arrival of the security agents.”
Katsina is among the top five states with the highest number of kidnap incidents between July 2023 and June 2024.
The governor said it was unhelpful for communities to depend solely on security agencies due to the remoteness of their locations.
He added, “I went to a village, Tsamiyar-jino, where it took me two hours inside a ‘Jeep’ before I reached the village from the main road. So, if bandits attack such areas, from the time you inform the security, it will take them over two hours before they can respond to the distress call. By then, whatever is going to happen will have happened – they will have killed people and kidnapped others.”
The idea of arming citizens to defend themselves has been on the table as a possible solution to the wanton killings and destruction in the region and other parts of the country.