THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF ARMED BANDITRY IN BORDER COMMUNITIES OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF ARMED BANDITRY IN BORDER COMMUNITIES OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract:

The study dwells on the current form of banditry in the northeastern part of Nigeria with specific reference to the border communities of Adamawa State. Armed banditry involves attacking people on the highways and even the raiding of villages. These acts ofbanditry result in injury, loss of human lives,loss of property and a sustainedfear of victimization among the border communities. The study set out to find the nature, pattern and consequences of armed banditry in the border communities. Data were collected using a survey while in-depth interviews were conducted with selected border community leaders, Police Officers and some victims of armed banditry. The quantitative data were analysed descriptively using frequencies while the qualitative data were transcribed and used to support the quantitative data. The findings indicated that, armed banditry can be attributed to a number of factors among which are the influx of ex-combatants from Nigeria’s neighbouring war torn countries, especially Chad, Niger and Cameroon, unemployment among youths and easy availability of arms. The findings on the nature, pattern and consequences of armed banditry indicated that the armed bandits attack people on the highways with military type weapons, and violently dispossess victims of their money/valuables and escape into the hills and forests. The armed bandits are generally known as “Kwanta-Kwanta”. They operate in groups of between 10 and 25 persons who are usually between the ages of 28 and 45 years. They speak Hausa or Fulfulde language. Armed banditry was found to have had impact on the socio-economic lives of the people such as disruption of commercial activities, disruption of social activities like festivals and school attendance, negative impact on the supply and delivery of basic amenities and the psychological trauma suffered by residents, victims and relatives of victims of armed banditry. There is a failure on the part of law enforcement agencies towards controlling and preventing incidents of armed banditry. The challenges the law enforcement agencies face in this regard include inadequate funding, inadequate training and equipment, political interference, poor welfare package, poor quality of human and personnel resources, and the absence of a comprehensive crime prevention/control policy It is therefore recommended that control and prevention of acts of armed banditry requires a holistic approach involving all stakeholders adopting long and short term measures which includes Inter-Country cooperation towards the prevention and control of armed banditry, effective institutional coordination among specialized agencies in view of the multi-dimensional nature of state interest in border security, government recognition of vigilante groups, and adequate funding, training and equipping of law enforcement agents.

THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF ARMED BANDITRY IN BORDER COMMUNITIES OF ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

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