The Kaduna state Commissioner for Information, Malam Ahmed Maiyaki, has said that the state government offered bandits access to education, healthcare, and livelihood opportunities rather than cash payments, as part of efforts to end years of killings and kidnappings in the state.
Maiyaki made this known at a one-day workshop on Peace Journalism organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna state, in collaboration with the Global Peace Foundation Nigeria and the Ministry of Information, Kaduna state.
He said the initiative, tagged Kaduna Peace Model, was a deliberate shift from confrontation to conversation, focusing on restoring humanity through dialogue and development instead of financial appeasement.
“You cannot bomb peace into existence; you must build it with trust,” he declared.
The commissioner said the turning point came when leaders of the armed groups asked the government to reopen markets, schools, and healthcare centers that had been closed due to insecurity.
“We agreed because these are basic human needs, not ransom payments. We didn’t give them a dime. What we gave was life back to communities long abandoned,” he said.
Maiyaki noted that between 2015 and 2023, Kaduna recorded 1,160 security incidents resulting in 4,876 deaths, with thousands kidnapped or displaced. By 2021 alone, 1,192 people were killed and 3,348 abducted, forcing the closure of 142 schools and 192 health facilities.
He said Kaduna, once declared a “red zone” by the international community, was gradually reclaiming its image through a non-kinetic approach anchored on intelligence sharing, dialogue, and socio-economic inclusion – in partnership with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Through the joint ONSA–Kaduna Peace Committee, he said, more than 500 captives were safely released via negotiations without any payment of ransom or resort to force.
“We are seeing trust where there was fear, and cooperation where there was hostility,” he said.
