Governor Dikko Umaru Radda has reaffirmed that the Katsina State Government will not negotiate with criminal elements from a position of weakness, insisting that community engagement must complement security operations in restoring peace across the state.
Radda stated this while receiving participants of Senior Course 48 from the Armed Forces Command and Staff College during a study tour to the state.
The governor explained that while communities in some affected areas had initiated dialogue and peace arrangements with bandits, the government maintained a firm stance against compromising security or state authority.
“We made it clear that government would not negotiate from a position of weakness, but communities themselves engaged constructively, and in some cases, it yielded positive results,” he said.
Governor Radda noted that insecurity in Katsina is largely driven by criminal activities such as cattle rustling and kidnapping, rather than ideological extremism, making grassroots participation vital in addressing the challenge.
According to him, the administration adopted a community-based security approach after realizing that conventional security agencies alone could not adequately cover all vulnerable communities.
“We realized that the number of military, police and civil defence personnel is far below what is required to effectively secure the country. That is why we had to adopt a community-driven approach,” the governor stated.
He highlighted the establishment of the Katsina Community Watch Corps, whose members were recruited locally and trained by security agencies to support intelligence gathering and rapid response operations.
The governor added that the initiative has improved security across many previously inaccessible communities and restored farming activities in several local government areas.
Radda also commended the Armed Forces and other security agencies for their sacrifices in protecting lives and property.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Brigadier General K. Rabiu, described Katsina as a model for community-driven security initiatives and praised the administration’s efforts in security, agriculture, infrastructure and education.
He said the study tour was aimed at exposing participants to practical governance and security challenges while generating policy-oriented solutions for national development.
