Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has described Kano as a “mini-Nigeria” that is difficult to govern because of its huge population and cosmopolitan character. The governor spoke through the Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya, at the first annual security conference of the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies (ISSS), where he received an Award of Excellence in Security Governance.
Receiving the award on behalf of the governor, Waiya said the recognition was a call to action on security governance. He noted that the state government had adopted both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies to tackle insecurity.
He said the administration had trained about 2,000 young men and women under the Neighbourhood Watch programme and deployed them across the 44 local government areas to support conventional security agencies.
Waiya also highlighted the Anti-Phone Snatching Corps and the Safe Corridor programme, which he said was designed to encourage youths involved in political thuggery and violence to surrender and embrace peace. About 340 young men had been registered and profiled under the Safe Corridor programme, with the government releasing more than N500 million for the initiative.
On the challenges of governance, Yusuf said, “As one of the speakers at the summit rightly said, governing is not an easy task. It is not for a lazy person because you are actually governing a state that is like a mini-Nigeria. Kano has a very large population and has recently been described among the world’s most populous cities. It is a cosmopolitan state and a melting pot for Nigerians because people from all parts of Nigeria are living in Kano. So, Kano is actually a mini-Nigeria, and governing it is not easy.”
Meanwhile, a security expert, Dr Muhammad Ali, called for stronger community security partnerships across the North-West to tackle banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, border vulnerabilities and inter-community conflicts.
Ali said Kano and Jigawa were not completely immune from insecurity despite their relative stability compared with some neighbouring states. He attributed the stability to strong traditional and religious institutions, economic activities, proactive security measures and geographical factors.
The expert advocated a shift from purely kinetic operations to an integrated, community-centred security governance framework involving traditional rulers, local communities, civil society and security agencies. He recommended formal early-warning and early-response mechanisms, stronger intelligence sharing, joint coordination between community security outfits and conventional agencies, human rights training and effective oversight.
Ali also called for inter-state intelligence sharing and joint border patrols among North-West states, stressing that the governors of the seven states need to work together to defeat insecurity.
“Finally, the Governors of the seven North Western States have to come together to agree never to disagree and as soon as that is done, I would want to assure you on my honour that in four months, we can end banditry, the economy of violence, cattle rustling and any other criminal activity bedeviling the region. So help us God,” he said.
The conference underscored the need for collaborative approaches to security, bringing together government, communities and experts to address challenges in the region.
