Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani says his administration aims to employ 7,000 youths to help security forces tackle insecurity.
Kaduna, in Nigeria’s northwestern region, is dealing with banditry, kidnapping, and a slew of other security issues.
Governor Sani, who has been in office for nearly three months, said his government will engage youths in battling criminality as part of its efforts to stem the tide.
The governor, who has been a champion for state police since his days as a senator, stated that the recruitment process would begin soon.
“Coming to Kaduna, I also revived the Kaduna State Vigilance Service,” Governor Sani said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
“As we are speaking right now, in the next week, we are going to recruit at least 7,000 youths who are going to be running our Kaduna State Vigilance Service.”
‘On the Same Page
According to him, the development was further necessitated by the fact that “security agencies are lacking the boots” in their bid to tackle insecurity.
“And of course, they need the support of our local vigilance service. As of today, we have only 2,000 but we are recruiting another 7,000 to make them 9,000,” the former lawmaker explained.
“And I am happy both the commissioner of police, the director of DSS, and even the GOC here in Kaduna, are all involved in making sure that all our vigilance service is having adequate training. We are using the police college to train them and that is very key.”
Asides from that, he stated that the state government is working with other stakeholders including religious bodies to ensure the state is rid of criminality.
He said there are also talks with governors in the north to finetune ways of taming insecurity.
“As I am speaking with you, we are on the same page. We are trying our best to make sure we have a joint operation,” the governor said.