The Kano State Government has unveiled a record N1.4 trillion budget, described as the largest in the state’s history and the biggest in northern Nigeria, with more than N1 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure on infrastructure and essential services.
Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Abdullahi Ibrahim Waiya, disclosed this while representing Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf at the North-West Conference on Community Security Management in Kaduna.
Waiya said the budget reflected the administration’s approach of linking security governance with economic and social development.
He described an award presented to the state by the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies as “a call to action and more action”, stressing that Kano required substantial investment to meet the needs of its diverse and rapidly growing population.
According to him, the state has introduced several initiatives aimed at strengthening community-based security and preventing crime.
He said about 2,000 trained youths had been deployed under a new Neighbourhood Watch scheme, with operatives stationed across the state’s 44 local government areas.
The government has also established an Anti-Phone Snatching Corps and strengthened community policing through the appointment of a Special Adviser on the initiative.
Waiya said the administration’s Safe Corridor programme had profiled 340 youths previously involved in political thuggery, with more than N500 million released for their rehabilitation and empowerment.
He added that another 1,000 youths were being prepared to participate in a 40-day rehabilitation and empowerment camp.
The government, he said, had also strengthened the Hisbah Board, supported independent community-led security initiatives and planned to establish a forum involving the eight metropolitan local government areas to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies.
Expert calls for regional security strategy
Participants at the conference, however, warned that isolated interventions by individual states would not be sufficient to address insecurity across the North-West.
Security expert, Hon Dr Muhammad Ali, said the seven North-West governors could significantly curb banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling within four months if they agreed to work together.
He urged the governors to “agree never to disagree”, describing the region as the “Killing Fields of the North”.
Ali noted that Kano and Jigawa had enjoyed relative stability compared with some other states, but warned that parts of Kano bordering Katsina remained vulnerable.
He specifically identified nine local government areas, including Bagwai, Gwarzo, Kabo and Rogo, as areas exposed to security threats.
The security expert attributed the relative stability in Kano and Jigawa to strong traditional institutions, economic opportunities and proactive policing, but stressed that no state was completely immune to insecurity.
He called for an integrated, community-centred security framework supported by Early Warning and Early Response systems.
Ali also advocated the harmonisation of vigilante groups and their closer coordination with the police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and military.
He urged authorities to strengthen traditional mechanisms for resolving land and farmer-herder disputes, which he identified as important components of conflict prevention.
To address funding constraints and operational conflicts among security agencies, he recommended unified command structures, oversight boards and sub-national security trust funds backed by legislation.
Waiya assured participants that the Yusuf administration would continue to expand its security and development initiatives.
“It is not about spending money on ourselves as government officials but rather dedicating such resources to providing essential services,” he said.
Ali, meanwhile, called on policymakers to institutionalise community security partnerships, enact legislation defining the status and welfare of local security outfits, and increase investment in youth empowerment, education and rural infrastructure.
“Community security partnerships must be a formal leg of sub-national governance,” he said.
He stressed that achieving sustainable peace in the North-West would require governments to move beyond military and other kinetic responses towards stronger governance, accountability, prevention and community participation.
