Irony of Zamfara

In what might pass as good news, the Governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle, announced that about 216 rifles were today recovered from repentant bandits that have been terrorizing the state in recent years. The state has notoriously grown to become a Bandits’ Abattoir due to incessant killings and maiming of people by outlaws. A recurring trend that has placed the government and relevant security agencies in bad light.

News of such surrender would have been unreservedly joyous if not that the bandits\’ menace keeps increasing in scale and frequency. In time past, there have been series of reports of bandits dropping their arms and keying into the state government’s reconciliatory agenda. In February 2018, about 3000 bandits reportedly surrendered their arms following peace and dialogue initiated by Zamfara state government. 1000 bandits also surrendered their arms to the government in 2016.  Similar incident happened in 2017 with an undisclosed number of bandits surrendering arms and ammunition.

These series of surrender by bandits are yet to reflect on peace and security in the state. Bandits are still very much on rampage, killing, maiming people, and looting their properties. What then does the government intend to achieve with this ineffectual surrender? Are there proper mechanisms for the rehabilitation and reintegration of the repentant bandits? Is there an efficient way of monitoring their activities to ensure they do not slip back into the life of crime? Do they engage in productive ventures upon surrender?

In essence, Zamfara state government should review the peace and reconciliation programme to see why it has not achieved the desired results. There should be efficient surveillance mechanism to monitor the activities of repentant bandits. The state cannot continue to receive repentant bandits while the menace of banditry is rapidly increasing.