Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda, says that bandits were now recruiting young people into crimes for as low as N500.  
Radda spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, adding that 
poverty was one of the major factors fueling banditry in the country.
His words, “The issue of the hypothesis behind political motive as responsible for banditry is not true.
“Secondly, what also causes the recruitment of people under the logistics services for bandits was a result of poverty because surprisingly with N5,000, N2,000, and N500, you can convince some of these youths to join in this exercise which brings about money.”
The governor further expressed worry that banditry has become a business venture for some persons including government officials.
According to him, “Now it has turned out to be a business venture. A business venture for the criminals, some people who are in government; and some people who are in security outfits, and some people who are responsible for the day-to-day activities of their people.
“These are so many reasons why we are unable to bring banditry to an end.”
However, Radda noted that he Katsina State Government would never negotiate from a “point of weakness” with bandits.
“When you understand the kterrain of the forest, and the different camps that we have within those forests… like in Katsina, we have more than 100 different camps that are being led by somebody.
“So, they have many leaders, many camps and if you’re negotiating with camps A and B and don’t negotiate with camps C and D, it will not bring any lasting peace.
“Even if you negotiate with the leaders, the other followers of the leaders may not necessarily comply with the directives of their leader.
“So that is what makes the negotiation with the bandits a very difficult task.
“What I said is that I would never go into negotiations with any criminal from the point of weakness,” he added.