Only 30 policemen protecting 100 Katsina villages- Masari

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Despite the escalating killings by bandits and other criminal elements in Katsina State, only 30 Policemen provide security in 100 villages in the state.

Although Governor Aminu Masari said the state would in the interim amend its extant laws to give power  to  village heads and local authorities in the battle against the bandits,” a worried Emir of Katsina Abdulmumin Usman advised him  to also consider sending a high-powered delegation of Katsina indigenes to President Muhammadu Buhari on the insecurity in the state.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is however set to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Katsina and other Northwest as well as Northeast states to check banditry and other forms of crimes in the zones.

Masari, at a luncheon by NAF to celebrate the Eid-El-Kabir with frontline troops in Katsina, lamented that the  30 policemen were  “gross inadequate” especially now that the bandits had become emboldened.

He said: “This would complement ongoing efforts to emplace a robust community policing structure, whilst addressing the gross deficit in the number of police personnel available at local levels, which is in the range of an average of about 30 policemen to about 100 villages.”

He emphasized that if such actions were not taken, “even if the bandits were wiped out by the military, another generation of criminal elements would quickly take their place in the absence of governance and adequate policing.”

“The bandits are intertwined within the communities so sometimes it may be difficult for the NAF or the Army to distinguish them from the locals in order to conduct offensive operations devoid of collateral damage. The locals must stop giving support, information or safe havens to these criminals,” the governor said.