The Kaduna State Government says it has recovered more than 500,000 hectares of farmland previously controlled by bandits over the past three years.
The state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Ahmed Maiyaki, disclosed this on Sunday at a gala night organised by the Kano Correspondents’ Chapel during its annual retreat in Kaduna.
Maiyaki said improved security had allowed farmers to return to their fields and helped the government expand activities in agriculture and other sectors.
He recalled that bandits previously controlled rural communities, imposed taxes, dictated farming activities and collected dowries.
“It was so bad that farmers could not go to their farms. But today, with community-led security and early warning systems, peace has returned, and our farmers are back on the land,” he said.
According to him, the state’s security strategy combines military and other kinetic operations with non-kinetic measures involving traditional rulers, religious leaders, youth groups and other community stakeholders.
He said 75 potential threats were detected between 2023 and early 2026, with 70 successfully addressed before they escalated into communal or religious conflicts.
Maiyaki said improved security had also encouraged increased government investment in agriculture, with the sector’s budget rising from N1.4bn in 2023 to more than N100bn in 2026.
He said the investment had supported the free distribution of fertiliser and contributed to an increase in maize yields from three bags per hectare to as many as 22 bags.
The commissioner said the government was measuring its interventions by their impact on residents rather than by the number of programmes implemented.
He also highlighted road construction and rehabilitation projects across 12 local government areas, saying the projects had reduced travel time, lowered post-harvest losses and improved emergency response.
Improved road access, he added, had made it easier for farmers to transport produce to markets, enabled children to travel to school and strengthened the ability of security agencies to respond to distress calls.
On education, Maiyaki said the number of out-of-school children in the state had declined from 550,000 to 187,000. He added that tuition fees had been reduced by 50 per cent, while scholarships worth N1.3bn had been introduced.
He further claimed that maternal deaths had dropped by nearly 20 per cent following the upgrading of 205 primary healthcare centres and the annual recruitment of 1,800 health workers.
The commissioner said the state’s free compressed natural gas bus initiative transported 3.6 million passengers within one year and saved residents approximately N3.8bn in transportation costs.
He added that the buses had also improved the productivity of civil servants by helping them arrive at work on time and reducing their commuting expenses.
“Security is the foundation. Without it, we cannot achieve anything in health, education, or agriculture. Today, Kaduna is setting benchmarks for others to follow,” Maiyaki said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Kano Correspondents’ Chapel, Murtala Adewale, said the journalists were in Kaduna for their annual retreat, themed, “2027 General Elections: Navigating Legal, Security and Ethical Challenges in the Media.”
