The National Security Debacle: Escalating the Bald Conversations on Rural Banditry in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Scholarly preoccupation with socio-political development in Nigeria appeared to have dwelt more on the fulfillment of great expectations and much less on the uncertainties of social change brought about by democratization in Africa. Thus, when Huntington reflected on the possibility of reversal following the onset of ‘Third wave’ in Africa, the emphasis on social conflict is very instructive in the democratization process of many states in Africa. Whereas some democracies have managed to consolidate or are still democratizing, a few others have relapsed into reverse wave or at best, are caught up in what Thomas Carothers described as “The gray zone”. In Nigeria for example, after almost half a century of democratization, there is rising wave of atavistic consciousness or what Engels described as the “Lowest instinct or passion in man”, where the political space is characterized by rampaging non-state actors. In specific terms, the new wave of dramatic reverses relates to terrorist attacks, ethnic violence, armed banditry, farmers-herders imbroglio, cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, and unknown gunmen. In the circumstance, marauders and brigands now reign supreme over what is described as ungoverned space, prompting a convergence of expert opinions that Nigeria is fast degenerating unto a failed state. Among the various descriptions of criminal enterprises in Nigeria, there is scholarly preoccupation with the nuances and pattern of armed banditry. This paper seeks to deepen this preoccupation by scoping the infamy of rural banditry in northern Nigeria. It argues that, beyond the much-touted ethno-religious sentiment and convoluted diversity, the worsening human condition occasioned by the increasing parlous governance situation in the country, are more persuasive in explaining the dramatic wave of criminal enterprises. The theoretical perspective of Cohen and Felson which treat crime as the consequence of the convergence of a motivated offender, a vulnerable target and the absence of capable guardian, comes close to a real-life connotation of rural banditry in northern Nigeria. The paper recommends among others, the urgent need to ups the quality of good governance in order to address the human condition, and that a collaboration among the leadership strata in the wider society must demonstrate sufficient commitment to compliment government efforts in a genuine governance project that seeks to emancipate Nigeria from her current sorry state.