Kano Govt Flags Off Safe Corridor Project to Tackle Thuggery Through Non-Kinetic Approach
By Salisu Hamisu Ali
The Kano State Government has launched the Safe Corridor Project (Kano Model), an initiative aimed at addressing the menace of youth thuggery through rehabilitation, empowerment, and reintegration rather than punitive measures.
The program was flagged off at the Kano State Police Command Headquarters, Bompai, on Wednesday, with Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf represented by the Commissioner for Information, Comrade Ibrahim Waiya.
Speaking at the event, Waiya said the initiative was born out of the governor’s concern over the growing menace of thuggery, which he described as damaging to the image of the state.
He explained that the project will provide repentant youths with rehabilitation, empowerment, and educational opportunities to reintegrate them as productive members of society.
“We believe that by engaging these youths through this non-kinetic approach, we will be able to contain the challenges of thuggery. After profiling by the police and NDLEA to ensure their mental and physical stability, they will undergo rehabilitation and later be empowered either academically, educationally, or economically,” Waiya said.
He stressed that the project is a deliberate attempt by the state government to end thuggery once and for all, adding that the administration is determined to ensure no youth remains in thuggery by the end of Governor Yusuf’s tenure.
In his remarks, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, commended the initiative, describing it as a second chance for the repentant youths.
He called on residents of the state to support security agencies with timely information and urged community and religious leaders to continue sensitizing youths against crime and violence.
“The life of crime leads only to destruction and regret. This program is an opportunity for these youths to turn their lives around. The Police Command will continue to support such initiatives for peace and progress in Kano,” Bakori said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abdulkarim Abdullahi, disclosed that so far, 718 youths have been profiled under the initiative, while an additional 597 have voluntarily surrendered their arms and renounced violence. He described the development as proof that with proper engagement and empowerment, positive transformation is achievable.
Also speaking, the Commander-General of the Kano Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, urged the repentant youths to remain committed to peace and avoid returning to their old ways. He further pledged to include them in the state’s mass wedding scheme.
Some of the repentant youths who spoke at the event expressed readiness to abandon thuggery completely and pledged to influence their peers to do the same.
The Safe Corridor Project is expected to continue with profiling, rehabilitation, empowerment, and eventual reintegration of hundreds of youths who voluntarily renounce violence, with the aim of making Kano free from the scourge of thuggery.
