The Katsina State Government said on Monday that it had spent about N30 million on amnesty programme for repentant bandits and cattle rustlers in the state before the programme collapsed.
Mr Mustapha Inuwa, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), disclosed this at a press conference in Katsina.
He said that the fund was spent on buying of weapons from the repentant bandits and cattle rustlers, in order to disarm and discourage them from the ugly act.
“We spent about N30 million on amnesty programme.
“And of recent, we collected another N20 million out of which we spent only about N2 million after the programme collapsed.
“We asked experts to assess the cost of a particular rifle before we gave money to the rifle’s owner,” he said.
Inuwa said that the unspent fund was returned to the government treasury on several occasions.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government initiated amnesty programme and peace accord with repentant cattle rustlers and bandits, to ensure peace across the state.
But Gov. Aminu Masari, last month, lamented that the amnesty programme and the peace accord did not last for long and had collapsed.
The governor said that the state government would never enter into any peace agreement with bandits again.
Masari said the bandits failed to fulfil the agreement reached with government on attack of the communities in the state.
