BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
The Katsina state government says it spent about N30 million on amnesty programme for repentant bandits and cattle rustlers in the state before the programme collapsed.
At a press conference on Monday, Mustapha Inuwa, secretary to the state government (SSG), said the fund was spent on buying of weapons from the repentant bandits and cattle rustlers, in order to disarm and discourage them from the ugly act.
“We spent about N30 million on amnesty programme. And of recent, we collected another N20 million out of which we spent only about N2 million after the programme collapsed,” Inuwa said.
“We asked experts to assess the cost of a particular rifle before we gave money to the rifle’s owner.”
Inuwa said the unspent fund was returned to the government treasury on several occasions.
The state government had initiated amnesty programme and peace accord with repentant cattle rustlers and bandits, to ensure peace across the state.
But Aminu Masari, the governor, announced that his administration had pulled out of the peace deal with bandits as a result continued attacks on communities in the state.
Masari said the state government would never enter into any peace agreement with bandits again.
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