Banditry ; Niger Vigilantes set to bear firearms.
Yahaya Zakka Minna
Niger State House of Assembly has passed a bill into law to arm Vigilante Corps to confront banditry and other criminal activities in the state.
The law which members of the house believed will be a big strategy to surmount the challenges of insecurity, said it was a great platform to be used to police rural communities against the activities of bandits and kidnappers.
Presenting the report of the committee that did the final work on the bill, Hon Ndagi Baba (Lavun), the chairman of the security and intelligence committee said he convened public hearings in order to obtain expert opinions from relevant stakeholders and to also create public awareness about the proposed amendment to the law.
He said the amendment include among others the arming of vigilante members to confront the equally armed bandits and to remunerate the vigilante corps on a monthly stipend of N20,000 .
He said the law also establishd a formal local government structure and include the special adviser to the governor on security as a member of the advisory committee of the Corp.
Although, the law did not specify the kind of weapons the vigilante members will use in confronting the bandits, it was agreed that the vigilantes will work with formal security agencies.
During the planery also, the house passed a bill into law to make for the financial autonomy for the state legislature.
The bill titled: a bill for a law to make provision for the management of funds of the Niger State House of Assembly and for other related matters, was given expedicious hearing and approval.
