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15.02.2012 Nigeria

Poverty fueling unrest in Nigeria's Kano, says report

By AFP
A resident inspects a police patrol van outside Sheka police station in northern Nigerian city of Kano.  By Aminu Abubakar AFPFileA resident inspects a police patrol van outside Sheka police station in northern Nigerian city of Kano. By Aminu Abubakar (AFP/File)
15.02.2012 LISTEN

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - Poor governance, poverty and unregulated migration have sparked a security crisis in Nigeria's city of Kano, where Islamists killed at least 185 last month, said a report released Wednesday.

The governor of the northern Kano state commissioned 15 business and political leaders to probe the causes fueling local unrest following the January 20 attacks in the state capital, claimed by Boko Haram Islamists.

"With the virtual collapse of governance structure at community level, making it impossible to keep track of activities in local communities... Kano has unfortunately been reduced to an urban jungle," said Magaji Dambatta, who headed the committee that authored the report.

Boko Haram has carried out a series of both large and small scale attacks in several parts of Africa's most populous country, but the north has been hit hardest.

The January 20 coordinated gun and bomb assaults in Kano, Nigeria's second city, was the group's deadliest ever strike. There have since been several smaller attacks in the city.

The report further cited "the uncontrolled influx of foreigners" as a cause of insecurity.

On January 26, a security source said Nigeria had arrested some 200 foreign "mercenaries", mainly from Chad, who may have been involved in the attacks.

Many analysts doubt that Boko Haram has such a high number of foreigners in its ranks, arguing that the group's foot soldiers are largely dejected, unemployed youths in Nigeria's deeply impoverished mainly Muslim north.

The report commissioned by Kano state governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso called for "massive assistance" from the federal government to tackle poverty and crippling unemployment.

The Kano state government also announced that the families of the victims of the January 20 attacks have received a compensation payment.

The payout was funded by private donations and more than 150 families received $6,250 (4,770 euros), the government said.

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