AN INCREASED CRIME RATE AND STATE DEVELOPMENT

1.0 Introduction

Crime in Nigeria, like in most developing nations of Africa, is widespread and seems to be on the increase by the day. When poverty is coupled with high levels of economic and social aspirations, the stage is set for criminal activities — particularly official corruption, robbery and dealing in illegal goods and services.

People, who are thwarted in attaining desired social and economic goals legally, may seek to obtain them illegally. This paper, analyze how increased crime rate, resulting from unemployment, poverty and inflation, increases criminal activities in Imo state.

The discussion stresses that crime is a social problem that deserves serious attention. It noted that the social problems which afflict Nigerians as a people are the result of the faulty strategy of development which has prevailed in the country, the particular set of economic and social policies to which that strategy has given rise and the particular structural arrangements which have produced and sustained both the strategy and the policies. It recommends a drastic modification of the development strategy, both at the macro and micro levels.

1.1 Background of the Study

Conceptually, crime can be seen as an infraction of both the basic principles of law and order and the norms of civilised behaviour. No society is immune from this knotty social problem but what differs is the frequency and magnitude of the situation and the response mechanisms to address it.

As part of the human community, Nigeria is currently caught in the web of crime dilemma, manifesting in the convulsive upsurge of both violent and non-violent crimes.

But the most alarming and terrifying is the present escalation of violent crimes and the barbarity, lethality and trauma the perpetrators unleash on the hapless citizenry across the length and breadth of the country. Notable in this regard are the rising incidents of armed robbery, assassination and ransom-driven kidnapping, which are now ravaging the polity like a tsunami and spreading a climate of fears and anxieties about public safety.

So far, the prevalent sky high level of violent crimes in Nigeria has cast asterisk on the political will of some of those in the corridors of power in the country to protect the citizens through the instrumentality of the law enforcement agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, which is constitutionally charged with maintaining law and order.

Suffice it to say that a bizarre situation where any government abdicates its sole responsibility in this regard will give room to the emergence of a kind of Hobbesian state where life is solitary, nasty, brutish and short because of nihilism and violence of men. Already, many social analysts are eager to draw a parallel between the current tempo of kidnap saga in Nigeria and countries infamous for it like Colombia, Mexico and Bolivia, where various drug gangs and marxist guerrillas are wreaking havoc.

Considering the human cost of the upwardly growing level of grave crimes like armed robbery and assassination in places like Owerri, Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Benin-City, Yenagoa, Port-Harcourt, Onitsha, Aba and Uyo, these towns, without sounding alarmist, could be said to have reached a point of comparism with South Africa's Johannesburg, which has earned itself the unenviable sobriquet of the murder capital of the world.

What are the underlying causative factors behind the exponential increase in violent crimes in our present-day society, especially the ugly trends of dare-devil kidnapping, armed robbery and assassination that have put the country in a quandary and instigated the pervasive sense of agoraphobia and “homephobia” among many Nigerians?

And what are the realistic means of containing these worrisome developments, which have come with pernicious effects of threat to the life and property of the citizenry, forced divestment of resources by the government from more productive sectors to the maintenance of internal law and order and discouragement of foreign direct investments? It was under this background that the researcher embarked on this study.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

Several Eurocentric scholars, history and anthropology have painted imo state which is one of the state in Nigeria as a state without a past and a state with increasing crime rate. This view has seriously been held that imo state has no capable government who will enact good security policy which will help curtail the increasing crime rate in the state. The contest of the problem here lies in the way to curb this ever increasing crime rate in the state. Government and other none governmental organizations are now seeking the realistic means of containing these worrisome developments, which have come with pernicious effects of threat to the life and property of the citizenry.

On the other hand, the traditional rulers presently are not what they seems to be hence, many of them have been masterminding the evil crime in imo state by supporting the bad fellows, they protect the kidnappers armed robbers, ritualists and others with their influence as a result of that what would be experienced will be nothing but increased crime rate in imo state. And this is also a serious problem.

The rising incidents of armed robbery, assassination and ransom-driven kidnapping, which are now ravaging the polity like a tsunami and spreading a climate of fears and anxieties about public safety. So far, the prevalent sky high level of violent crimes in Nigeria has cast asterisk on the political will of some of those in the corridors of power in the country to protect the citizens through the instrumentality of the law enforcement agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, which is constitutionally charged with maintaining law and order.

Crime presently has become an ugly menace in the state, it is also very rampant that all efforts of both the government and the traditional rulers even some of the worthy citizens have been put in place to ensure that this problem in question is reduced in imo state.

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1.3 Objectives of the Study

This work is concerned with the following objectives:

1. To examine the various crimes in Imo state
2. To investigate the effect of increasing rime rate in imo state to state development
3. To examine the various causes of crime in imo state.
4. To suggest how crime rate can be reduced/ controlled to have a smooth peaceful and harmonies co-existence among the members of the society in Nigeria with special reference to imo state.
5. Finally, to know if there is any relationship between increasing crime rate and state development.

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1.4 Research Questions

This work is anchored and associate with the following questions:

• Does traditional rulers have any indigenous way of addressing and fighting crime in the state?
• What are the causes of increased crime rate in imo state?
• What are the solutions to increased crime rate in imo state?
• Has the government make any serious effort in combating crime in imo state?
• What are the problems this increased crime rate has caused to the good people of the state?
• Does increased crime rate effect state development?
• If yes, in what ways?

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1.5 Statement of Hypothesis

The oxford advanced learners dictionary (1995:586) defined hypothesis as an idea or a suggestion that is based on known facts and its used as a basis for reasoning or further investigation.

This work is anchored on the following hypothesis:

• Hi: There is relationship between increased crime rate and state development.
• Ho: There is no relationship between increased crime rate and state development.
• Hi: unemployment and high poverty level in the country are directly linked to increased crime rate in the state.
• Ho: unemployment and high poverty level in the country are not directly linked to increased crime rate in the state.

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1.6 Significance of the Study

The study will be of significant in the following areas;

1. It will help the government to know more on how increased crime rate can retard economic growth of the state.
2. it will throw more light on the causes of increased crime rate in the state.
3. It will be of help to government in tackling crime in the state
4. It will be beneficial to scholars, academicians and students who want to carry out further research on the topic.

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1.7 Scope of the Study

The scope of the work is on the increased crime rate and state development. The study will concentrate on Imo state as a reference points or case study. but, a little overview will be taken in the Nigerian context

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1.8 Limitation of the Study

The researcher encountered a number of constraints in course of this study and they include:

Finance:

The research was carried on the limited resources of the researcher. The funds required were not forth coming, thus the researcher had to manage the meager income available and this hampered the extensive coverage of the study.

Time:

The researcher did not have sufficient time needed for the research of this nature, thus she, had to share her time with other academic chores.

Respondents:

On the part of respondents, some of them were reluctant to divulge information while some did not pay attention to the researcher.

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1.9 Definition of Terms

There are wider definitions of terms and concepts as different scholars have different view about them but those associated with the work are seen as follows:

Administration:

This is the management of business and public affairs. But in the course of this work, administration is seen as the management and control of individual and members of the society.

Tradition:

This is the passing beliefs, customs, generations by upholding strongly to it.

CRIME:

This could be defined as an illicit and social evil act of the people that, affects the entire creatures negatively.

Rate:

The frequency at which an incident occur.

Development:

The level or the amount of growth of a particular society in terms of infrastructure, economically, politically or socially.

Armed Robbery:

this is the act of taking someone's possession with arms.

Kidnapping:

an art of taken someone hostage and demanding for ransom.

Money Laundering:

This is a process of concealing the existence, source or use of an illegally obtained money by converting the cash into untraceable transactions in banks.

Economic Development:

This refers to the process of growth in total per capita income of countries. It is occasioned by basic changes in the structure of the economy.

Economic Growth:

This means steady process of increasing productive capacity of the economy and also in the increasing of National Income.