BANDITRY AND INSECURITY IN KADUNA STATE: ISSUES AND CONTENTION IN IGABI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA STATE

Abstract

Banditry and insecurity have led to dire humanitarian consequences in Kaduna State and beyond. It has taken the form of shooting and killing, cattle rustler, kidnapping, rape, torching of entire villages and looting of valuables and the number of fatalities and displaced people has continued to rise. This has grossly affected the rural economy and socioeconomic development of the affected areas and the state at large. This paper seeks to assess the activities of banditry and insecurity in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The paper employed both primary and secondary methods of data collection. Human Need Theory has also been utilized as its theoretical framework analysis. The paper revealed that banditry and insecurity have adversely affected the study area. Therefore, the paper recommends that government should engage and implement the three (3) key strategies for dealing with the issues of banditry and insecurity in Kaduna State: that is negotiation, managing the fallout from violence and restricting. Also, government and religious leaders should collaborate with social, political and other stakeholders in most of the affected areas to assist in identifying members of this deadly group who live among them and finally aggressively pursuer policy should be initiated to stop the growth of SALWS rather than continuing to throw up its hands and hope that things just get better on their own.