On Monday, the Katsina State Government announced that it had completed plans to grant special allowances to Friday Mosque imams, their assistants, Mua’dhins (prayer callers), and Ward Heads in order to support them in the struggle against insecurity.
However, Dikko Radda, the state governor, did not mention Christian clerics in the proposed allowance when he made this announcement following the inauguration of the Steering Committees for the Katsina Community Watch Corps, or KCSWC.
The governor was reported in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim Kaula-Mohammed, as stating that the committee will work with other security professionals to track out bandits around the state.
According to him, the council chairman, district head, divisional police officer, and representatives of other security agencies were all members of the steering committee for each of the state’s 34 local government areas.
Others, he claimed, include two businesspeople and members of several religious groups.
The Governor stated that the committee would keep an eye on and assess how the KCSWC operated in their regions and provide a report to the Commissioner for Internal Security every month.
Dr. Nasiru Mu’azu-Danmusa, the state commissioner for internal security and home affairs, had earlier claimed that after the establishment of KCSWC, there has been a progressive decline in state-wide insecurity.
Representatives of the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Aminu Nuhu-Abdulkadir, and retired Justice Saddik Abdullahi-Mahuta praised the governor for taking action to address the state’s security issues in their respective speeches.
The district heads of Rimi and Malumfashi, Nuhu-Abdulkadir and Abdullahi-Mahuta, respectively, promised the committee that the traditional rulers would continue to support it.