The Kano State government has met with cluster leaders of repentant political thugs and promised to rehabilitate them by providing skills and start-up kits.
The event, which was held yesterday in Kano was attended by 718 repentant political thugs and phone snatchers.
In his address, the commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ibrahim Waiya, charged them to demonstrate their repentance with honesty and cooperation with the government to change their lives.
He said, “Arrangements have been put in place for you to be profiled by both the police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). These are essential processes through which you will choose the skills you want to acquire, and you shall all be trained in such skills and be given start-up kits.”
In his address, the Kano State police commissioner, Adamu Bakori, appealed to the repentant youths to embrace the programme and improve their lives.
“I am pleased with this initiative, something I have witnessed in the past in the South-South where I served for eight years, when there was amnesty for youths of the communities who were even militants.
“There were serious problems in those communities then, when the amnesty programme was initiated with about 30,000 youths. But today, they have all changed and become responsible people.
“It is based on this that I approached the state government to see if a similar thing could be done for the youths in the state who have destabilised the state. It was this move that led to today’s gathering. I therefore call on you to embrace this opportunity and join the forces of change,” he said.
The police chief urged the state government to extend the gesture to other state governments in the northern region, while promising that the police would support the programme.
He recalled that the DDR (disarm, Demobilise, and Rehabilitate) is a United Nations initiative introduced by its late former secretary-general, Kofi Annan.
The state faces youth restiveness, phone snatching and other crimes, especially in the metropolis.
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