The Kano State Government has met with cluster leaders of the repentant political thugs in the state and promised to support them through a process of rehabilitation, skills training and start-up kits.
The event which took place on Tuesday in Kano had 718 repentant political thugs and phone snatchers in attendance.
The Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ibrahim Waiya called on the participants to embrace the repentance with all honesty and cooperate with the government’s plan to change their lives.
“Arrangements have been put in place for all of you to be profiled by both the police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
“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,” he stated.
Addressing the repentant persons, Kano State Commissioner for Police, CP Adamu Bakori appealed to the repentant youths to embrace the programme conceived by the state government to better their lives.
“I am very happy 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 persons.
“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 appealed.
The CP further called on the state government to extend this gesture to other state governments in the northern region while promising that the police will support the programme.
He recalled that this was a United Nations initiative introduced by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan called the DDR (Disarm, Demobilise and Rehabilitate).
