Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has launched the ‘Katsina State Community Watch Corps‘, which will complement efforts by security agencies to curb armed banditry and kidnapping in the State.
At a graduation ceremony to commission the first batch of 1,456 trainees that will serve in the Corps, Governor Radda said the trainees were drilled by military and police officers in the art of intelligence-gathering and combat to enable them face the bandits.
The State government also handed over 68 Hilux vehicles and motorcycles to members of the Community Watch Corps to ease their patrol into nooks and crannies of their communities.
He explained that the community watch corps members were selected from each ward across the local government areas that have been battling with armed banditry and other security challenges in the State.
The Governor tasked them to be pro-active and combat-ready, and to liaise closely with the police, military, DSS, and civil defence operatives in surveillance, information-sharing, and confrontation with bandits, kidnappers, informants, armed robbers and other criminals.
He regretted that 24 out of the 34 local government areas of the State were battling with one form of security challenge or the other, which informed the resolve by the State government to come up with pro-active measures to face the menace.
The occasion was attended by former President Muhammadu Buhari and six other governors from the North-West geo-political zone as well as Governor Mai-mala Buni, of Yobe State.
Meanwhile, after the event, the North-West State governors held a closed-door security meeting at the Government House in Katsina.
