The Kaduna State Government says its peace model prioritises victims of banditry while supporting the reintegration of genuinely repentant criminals.
The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Malam Ahmad Maiyaki, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) saying reintegration was coordinated through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Maiyaki said Kaduna was working with ONSA and the state’s Ministry of Internal Security to develop a Disarmament, Rehabilitation and Reintegration framework.
He said the state deliberately focused on victims because government could not prioritise criminals while neglecting people affected by their activities.
“You cannot focus more on a criminal and abandon the victim of the criminality,” Maiyaki said.
He said the state’s resettlement programme had provided fully furnished houses, healthcare and educational support to victims, widows and children.
Maiyaki said the government had also partnered with Qatar to provide housing for internally displaced persons rather than keeping them in dilapidated displacement centres.
He cited the recent donation of a fully furnished house and scholarship to the children of a slain pastor as part of the victim centred approach.
The commissioner also cited support provided to the children of a woman killed in Maraban Rido, including a furnished house and scholarships.
He said repentant bandits could be reintegrated, but only after profiling, disarmament, psychosocial support and acceptance by their communities.
Maiyaki stressed that repentance did not provide immunity from prosecution, saying security agencies would deal with anyone who continued to commit crimes.
“While we are working with the boots on ground, we are also working on reintegration,” he said.
He said Kaduna had also deployed 1,000 trained forest guards, following presidential approval, to complement the military, police and Department of State Services.
According to him, community ownership remains central to the peace model because residents often know the identities and activities of criminals operating around them.
He said communities were therefore encouraged to drive the peace process, which also helped security agencies obtain useful intelligence.
Maiyaki said Kaduna was collaborating with neighbouring states to address insecurity along border communities and prevent reprisal attacks.
He said Kaduna shared borders with eight states, including Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara, Nasarawa and the FCT.
The commissioner said the state’s approach had contributed to improved security in Birnin Gwari, where farming, education, healthcare and commercial activities were gradually returning.
He said the reopening of the livestock market in Birnin Gwari had boosted economic activities, with cattle reportedly transported to Lagos weekly.
Maiyaki said about 500 hectares of farmland had been recovered in the area, enabling farmers to return to their farms.
He said the state government was also implementing a 36 kilometre road project linking farming communities in Birnin Gwari.
The Federal Government has also commenced reconstruction of the 122 kilometre Mando,Birnin Gwari road, a major corridor linking Kaduna with parts of northern and southern Nigeria.
Maiyaki said improved security and infrastructure would reduce travel time, connect farmers to markets and strengthen economic activities across affected communities.
He, however, said Kaduna could not declare total victory over banditry because isolated attacks persisted, particularly around border communities.
He said community trust remained one of the major challenges, stressing that sustainable peace required residents to trust government and security arrangements.
Maiyaki said the government had made progress in rebuilding that trust by addressing security, welfare and livelihood needs of affected communities.
He said education remained a right for every child, regardless of whether the child came from a victim’s or repentant criminal’s family.
“We do not want to profile children as children of criminals because that can affect their learning and reintegration,” he said.
Maiyaki said the state had recorded 550,000 out of school children when the administration came into office, adding that education interventions targeted children generally.
He said the government deliberately avoided segregating children based on their parents’ backgrounds, insisting that every child in Kaduna was entitled to education.
On the number of repentant bandits undergoing reintegration, Maiyaki said he could not provide the figures.
He said ONSA was responsible for coordinating the disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration process and was better positioned to provide official figures.
Maiyaki said ONSA was developing a framework that would allow individual states to adapt reintegration strategies to their peculiar security situations.
He said the Kaduna model was designed to combine non kinetic peacebuilding efforts with conventional security operations.(NAN)
