Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, has said the federal government was open to listen to bandits who recant and repent from their evil ways and settle them without cost.

He said this was being planned in a bid to provide a lasting solution to the security threats in the North-west and North-central zones of Nigeria.

“With all pleasure, anybody willing to surrender and do it honourably and honestly, the government is ready to listen. The government is ready to see what they can do to settle them down without much cost,” the minister said in an interview.

Dingyadi explained that the President' Muhammadu Buhari administration planned to reintegrate repentant bandits into the larger society, noting that the government would closely monitor those who have turned a new leaf to ensure they do not return back to their dastardly ways of doing things

“Of course, they are criminals, they have committed atrocities, they have committed crimes, but according to the international laws, when you surrender from a war zone, you are not killed, you are not maimed, you are allowed to have your say.

“We are listening to them to see how we can integrate them into the larger society. What we are trying to do is to get them settled in their various communities, to let them have a kind of means of livelihood so that they can integrate peacefully and honourably into the society.”