THE IMPLICATION OF BANDITRY AND ABDUCTION ON NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Civil unrest, terror threats, banditry and ongoing abductions of Nigerians, including the well-publicized kidnapping of school boys and girls by bandit and terrorist group, underscores the continuing challenges of security and national development in Nigeria.
One of the most fundamental challenges facing contemporary states is how to ensure national development in the face of manifold and ever burgeoning security threats. Prominent among these threats is the issue of organized crime (Okoli & Orinya, 2013). Organized crimes are high profile crimes which are often perpetrated through transnational syndication and racketeering. Cases in point include terrorism, banditry, money laundry, abduction and kidnapping. Globally, indications are rife to the effect that organized crimes are not only getting prevalent; indeed they are also getting sophisticated and consolidated and politicized. In this effect, they are becoming rather entrenched both locally and globally.
Banditry means occurrence or prevalence of armed robbery or violent crimes. It involves the use of force, or threat to that effect, to intimidate a person with the intent to rob, rape or kill. Banditry is a crime against persons. It has been a common genre of crime, as well as cause violence in contemporary societies (Nigeria Watch, 2011). The prevalence of banditry in Nigeria appears to have been high and rising over the years.Nigeria’s Northwest is gradually becoming another major regional theatre of violence, much like the Northeast where Boko Haram terrorists have wreaked havoc in the past ten years. A problem, which initially appeared as localized disputes between herders and farmers over access to land, has morphed into an intractable crisis posing a major threat to national and regional security. The level of rural banditry keeps escalating from 2014 till date attracting a lot of attention, while assuming increased political undertones are master minders to this yet its of great implication to the survival of common man and at large impedes national development. Banditry refers to armed violence driven principally by the criminal intent to steal and plunder. It is motivated by the quest for economic accumulation. The victims are individuals and communities with material valuables or most cases average people displaced from their home.
Banditry in the northwestern states of Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina has reached alarming heights in recent years. Bandits terrorize villages with impunity. They have actually settled in the Kastina State, setting up fortified enclaves in the hinterland and on the frontiers, from where they plot and carry out their operations.The most common examples of rural banditry in Nigeria are armed robbery, abduction of school children, cattle rustling and village raids.
Abduction which is synonymous to kidnapping is usually accompanied with a ransom for money or other gains. Thus a crime of abduction is considered to be when a person has been taken away from his or her original location by persuading him or her, by some act of fraud or with a forceful way that may include violence. However s political actors and stakeholders of the society and politicizing these life threatening issues thus no matter how government pretends about this, banditry and abduction has a major implication on the national security and development.
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