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Conceptual and empirical framework of banditry

Literature review on banditry

Conceptually, banditry is a derivative of the term bandit meaning an unlawful armed group terrorising people and confiscating their properties. It is synonymous with the establishment of gang groups who use small and light weapons to carry out attacks against people. In this regard, banditry could mean a set-up criminal activity deliberately designed and carried out for personal gains. Due to the complex nature of bandits’ activities, ((Egwu, S. (2016). The political economy of rural banditry in contemporary Nigeria. In Kuna, M.J and Ibrahim, J (eds.). Rural banditry and conflicts in northern Nigeria, Abuja: Centre for Democracy and Development.))

in a restricted manner, described banditry as a practice of stealing cattle and animals from herders or raiding of cattle from their ranches. In the same vein, banditry is reflected in criminal escapades like cattle rustling, kidnapping, armed robbery, drug abuse, arson, rape and the brazen and gruesome massacre of people of agrarian communities with sophisticated weapons by suspected herdsmen and reprisal attacks from surviving victims, a development that has been brought to the front burner of national security (Uche & Iwuamadi, 2018). In his perception, (( Shalangwa, M. W. 2013. The nature and consequences of armed banditry in border communities of Adamawa State, Nigeria. M.Sc. thesis submitted to the School of Post-Graduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.))

regards banditry as the practice of raiding and attacking victims by members of an armed group, whether or not premeditated, using weapons of offence or defense, especially in semi-organised groups for the purpose of overpowering the victim and obtaining loot or achieving some political goals. Such bandits are usually perceived as outlaws, desperate and lawless marauders who do not have a definite residence or destination but roam around the forest and mountains to avoid being identified, detected and arrested.

However, where the term banditry is connected to rural, it implies a group of rural outlawed involved in illicit activities such as raiding of villages, kidnappings and cattle rustling for primitive accumulation of wealth. Thus, bandits are gang groups terrorising and dispossessing local people or travellers of their valuable items or properties such as merchandise, money, cattle, camel, and sheep, among others. They operate within and along rural borders with the assistance of their local collaborators including in some cases, state agents deployed to work for the safety and security of the people (( Abdullahi, A. (2019). Rural banditry, regional security, and integration in West Africa. Journal of Social and Political Sciences, 2(3), 644-654 ))

In another sense, banditry refers to the incidences of armed robbery or allied violent crimes, such as kidnapping, cattle rustling, and village or market raids. It involves the use of force, or threat to that effect, to intimidate a person or a group of persons in order to rob, rape or kill (( Okoli, A. C. & Ogayi, C. O. (2018). Herdsmen militancy and humanitarian crisis in Nigeria: A theoretical briefing. African Security Review, 27(2), 129-143.))

Economic or political interests motivate banditry. The former refers to banditries motivated by the imperative of material accumulation while the latter has to do with those driven by the quest to rob, to assault or to liquidate a person or a group of persons based on political or ideological dispositions (( Okoli, A. C. & Ugwu, A. C. (2019). Of marauders and brigands: Scoping the threat of rural banditry in Nigeria‟s north west. Brazilian Journal of African Studies, 4(8), 201-222 ))

Thus banditry, in the context of this paper, is defined as the totality of incidences of armed robbery or allied violent crimes, such as kidnapping, cattle rustling, village raids as well as highway raids which involves the use of force, or threat to that effect, to intimidate a person or a group of persons in order to rob, rape, kidnap or kill the victims.

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The Brief History Of How ENDSARS Campaign Started In Nigeria

The  Special  Anti-Robbery  Squad  (SARS)  was  created  in  Lagos State in 1992, a time when Notorious armed robbers such as Shina Rambo6 were in control of the state (Midenda, 2017). 

It was created as a faceless police unit that performs undercover  operations  against  armed  robbers.  Within almost  two  decades  of  its  creation,  the  unit  has  spread  across the various states of the country. The spread of the unit across the nation without a proper structure, accounts for some of it lawless charcteristics.

The current report of police brutality using the #Endsars on Twitter has brought public attention to it. The online campaign about the police brutality is new, however, Nigerian pop stars has over the years expressed their worries, fears and incidents of police brutality. 

The  Nigerian  movie  industry,  Nollywood  has  also portrayed cases of brutality and corruption within the Nigeran police force in their productions.Nigerians   having   been   subjected   to   wanton   arrests,   extortion  and  extra  judiciary  killings,  lunched  a  social  media  campaign  using  the  hastag  #Endsars  on  Twitter  to put an end to police brutality.

The #Endsars campaign started  with  the  publication  of  a  petition  by  convener  Segun  Awosanya.  It  was  signed  by  10,195  Nigerians and submitted to the Nigerian National Assembly to scrap the  police  unit.    The  Twitter  campaign  started  on  the  2nd of  December  2017,  when  a  footage  of  police  officers attached to the unit shot and killed a man surfaced online. The  campaign  became  a  trending  topic  on  Twitter  with  over  400,000  Tweets8  within  twelve  hours.  

In October 2020, Nigerians turned the online campaign to protest. Nigerians  using 280 characters detailing their horrible and harrowing experiences  with  SARS,  the  dreaded  unit  of  the  police  created to fight banditry. Before the campaign, there have been isolated cases of police brutality all over the country. However,  it  was  during  the  campaign  that  the  damage  caused  by  such  brutality  was  discovered. 

The  campaign  also exposed the level of rot within the police unit according to  the  convener  of  the  campaign. 

The  campaign  further  revealed that the police has no recognizable structure with no organized system of operation, officers of the unit act based on self-will with little or no regards for fundamental human right for citizens especially vulnerable youth

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This article explores the challenges facing the educational system in Nigeria as well as the potential solutions. Education is the cornerstone of any kind of progress. However, unfortunately, the educational system in Nigeria is plagued by a wide variety of issues. These include insufficient classrooms, teaching tools (projectors, computers, laboratories, and libraries), a shortage of qualified instructors, and a bad or polluted learning environment. There is also a lack of finance, which results in inadequate educational infrastructures. In addition to these shortcomings, our educational system is also beset by a number of social ills, including test malpractices, cultism, hooliganism, and corruption. The problem of financing is one that has to be revisited by the government in order for there to be any genuine improvement in the educational sector. Investors from the private educational sector, educators! Students, as well as their parents and teachers, need to have their priorities realigned with those of education in order to be successful. Additionally, everyone should be able to fund their educational opportunities. The existing, singularist approach to the accumulation of knowledge absolutely has to be revised. If our country is ever going to break free of its current reliance on technology and scientific advancements, then centers for innovation and adaptation, as well as technical education, need to be supported with enough funding. The government and the organized private sector both need to contribute to the funding of research programs, innovations, and the manufacturing of huge quantities of things produced.Download Full Material-N5000