Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State has unveiled several new initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of violent extremism, banditry, and kidnapping in the state.
During a visit by a delegation from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), led by Mairo Abbas, Director of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, and Suwaiba Muhammad, Deputy Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), Governor Yusuf detailed the state’s new measures.
Represented by Secretary to the State Government Dr. Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, Governor Yusuf emphasized that the state government is committed to eradicating these issues through proactive strategies. He highlighted poverty as a major driver of crime and outlined several initiatives designed to address this challenge.
“As far as Kano State is concerned, we thought rather than take remediation measures, we should take preventive measures,” Governor Yusuf said. “That was why quite a number of initiatives started by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf are targeted at addressing the root causes of violent extremism, banditry, and kidnapping for ransom.”
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He noted that poverty alleviation is crucial for crime prevention, stating, “For example, we are very much aware that biting poverty is a major cause of so many crimes and so fighting poverty is extremely important if we are going to prevent the menace of Violent Extremism and such other crimes.”
The Governor announced the establishment of two new ministries: the Ministry of Humanitarian and Poverty Eradication and the Ministry of Internal Security and Special Services. These ministries will address humanitarian issues, natural disasters, and security concerns, complementing federal efforts against insecurity and violent extremism.
Governor Yusuf also discussed empowerment programs for women and youths and a declared state of emergency in the education sector, aimed at addressing poverty and crime through education. “We also declared a state of emergency on the education sector which amounts to a declaration of state of emergency on poverty and crimes because when the youths are educated, they will not take to crime,” he explained.
He expressed the state’s willingness to collaborate with ONSA and AAN, pledging to expand community resilience initiatives against violent extremism across all 44 Local Government Areas of Kano State.
Mairo Abbas from ONSA noted that the visit sought to enhance collaboration on ongoing interventions and expand initiatives funded by the Global Community Engagement Resilience Fund (GCERF) to prevent violent extremism in Kano.
Suwaiba Dankabo, Deputy Country Director of AAN, highlighted their project consortium, Systems and Structure Strengthening Approach Against Radicalization to Violent Extremism (SARVE III), which has built community resilience in six local governments and twelve communities in Kano. She also mentioned recent additional grants to further scale up these initiatives, supported by ONSA’s National Counter-Terrorism Unit.
“The collaboration became imperative as government support is crucial for ownership and sustainability of such initiatives as some trends conducive to violent extremism are being witnessed in the communities in the state,” Abbas said.
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