Katsina State Government is taking census of communities ravaged by bandits to provide psychosocial and economic support to them, an official said on Friday.
Ibrahim Ahmad-Katsina, the Special Adviser to Gov. Aminu Masari on Security Matters, told newsmen in Katsina that the aim was also to address the trauma the victims went through.
He said that a committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Mannir Yakubu, was undertaking the census of banditry-affected victims in the state.
“This is to ensure that the victims have not become psychologically vulnerable, and thus avert another cycle of violence after the end of banditry.
“We are applying simple psychological measures to manage the perception of the children of the banditry-affected victims.
“This is because, the children of those affected by banditry will surely like to take revenge, so that’s why we want to support them to overcome the trauma.
“We will provide the widows with gainful employment, skills and trades, and their children will be taken to schools,” the special adviser said.
Ahmad-Katsina said that the new approach to tackling banditry adopted by government has been recording successes.
According to him, part of the strategy is building people’s confidence to confront the bandits or report to security agencies without fear.
“We have realized that these bandits are also human beings like us, hence we want to disallow them from cutting short our lives.
“We are not only talking, we know what we are doing, relative peace is gradually returning to the state based on several factors.
“We have realized that what we are facing in Katsina is community banditry, most of the bandits and their locations are known.
“We understood the dynamics of the threats which made it easier for us to deal with the problem and identify the factors responsible and what needs to be done to nip the problem.
“We first reached out to the communities and developed their capacity in intelligence gathering, community policing, and community effort,” he said.
He added that the state government had trained 1,100 highly educated community vigilante corps, assisting their communities to survive.
Ahmad-Katsina pointed out that through this approach, members of various banditry-affected communities have risen to their responsibilities by not waiting for the security forces.
“We have already commenced the Ruga project in Katsina State, taking development to the forest areas and hinterlands, areas that were hitherto inaccessible are now accessible,” the official said.
According to him, some of the bandits have reached out to government indicating interest to embrace peace.
“And let me share something with you, even the bandit leaders are now laying down their arms, reaching out to us, they want a robust peace agreement that is committed to by both sides,” he added.
On 2023 elections, the special adviser assured that it would hold peacefully in all parts of the state.
“The present administration in the state will not hand over a hangover of threats, challenges or problems to the incoming government,” he added. (NAN)