As youth thuggery and phone snatching continue to escalate in Kano, media scholars are urging authorities to adopt bold and unconventional strategies, including relocating idle youth to farms and suspending the sale of second-hand phones.

A lecturer with the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University Kano, Dr. Bala Muhammad and Malam Aisar Salihu Musa, popularly known as Aisar Fagge, of the Kano State Polytechnic, made the call during a live radio programme, Tankade da Rairaya, on a local radio station in Kano.

The programme, monitored by SolaceBase, focused on the rise in insecurity caused by youth gangs in Kano and beyond.

SolaceBase reports that phone snatching in Kano has become a widespread and deeply rooted menace, with cases increasing alarmingly across the state. Many neighbourhoods, especially in the metropolitan areas, have become no-go zones at night due to the fear of attacks by armed youth gangs.

Read Also: Phone Snatching: Special Task Force arrests four, confiscates two tricycles in Kano

The menace has claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people—men and women alike—who were either stabbed or fatally injured while resisting attacks. The rising insecurity has left residents in constant fear, with many calling for urgent government intervention.

Dr. Bala suggested relocating idle and jobless youths to areas like Kiru Local Government Area or Falgore forest, where they can be engaged in agricultural activities until some of Kano’s dormant factories in Sharada resume operations.

He cited an example from the United States in 1929 during the Great Depression, where the government gathered young people, built camps for them, fed them, and put them to work on railway projects.

According to him, a similar approach can be adapted to suit Nigeria’s reality by relocating youth for farming and allowing them to occasionally visit their homes.

“Parents should support this idea by urging authorities to take their children who are neither in school nor employed,” Dr. Bala said, adding, “Any youth without a school or work ID should be taken there.”

Expressing dissatisfaction with the current handling of arrested thugs, Dr. Bala criticized the practice of keeping phone snatchers and knife-wielding criminals at the police headquarters in Bompai.

He advocated tougher punitive measures as deterrents, saying, “Gone are the days when a phone snatcher would just be detained. The least we should do now is to break his legs and hands to keep him off the streets. They are merciless and deserve no mercy.”

He attributed the surge in phone snatching to widespread drug abuse, where criminals often sell stolen phones to fund their addiction.

To curb this, he proposed a six-month ban on the sale of second-hand phones across Kano State.

He urged media houses to unite in calling on the government to enforce such a policy, saying the temporary restriction could significantly reduce the motivation behind phone snatching.

“This doesn’t mean the prohibition will be permanent,” he clarified, adding, “But if a criminal knows he can’t sell a stolen phone, that alone can be a deterrent.”

Dr. Bala also encouraged people to consider using traditional protective charms known as tsumi, which, he said, can shield the body from knife cuts—provided they don’t contradict Islamic teachings.

He further called on journalists to adopt more interpretative reporting styles, engaging experts and veteran journalists to help the public understand issues beyond the headlines.

“Gone are the days when you just report. Journalists must now explain what a situation means and its implications,” he said.

On his part, Malam Aisar lamented that the menace is spreading to other states such as Kaduna, Bauchi, and Adamawa.

He warned against treating the situation as unsolvable, saying, “Although security personnel are doing their best, they have limitations, largely due to inadequate equipment and personnel.”

He urged the public to remain vigilant and avoid known hotspots of phone snatching to reduce the risk of falling victim to these criminals.