IMPACT OF NAIRA REDESIGN IN CURBING BANDITRY IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

Banditry means occurrence or prevalence of armed robbery or violent crime. It involves the use of force, or threat to that effect, to intimidate a person with the intent to rob rape or kill. Banditry is a crime against persons. It has been a common genre of crime, as well as cause violence in contemporary societies (Nigeria Watch, 2011). According to Rotberg (2007:33), “crime against persons, including murder, rape, and robbery has grown in scale and viciousness in Nigeria since 1999”. This has been demonstrated by the pervasive trend of armed robbery in the country, which in effect mirrors the Africa-wide experience.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The pervasive banditry and its associated threats to security, which have enveloped the Northwest region of Nigeria, particularly, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Niger States, have become a worrisome national security issue of public concern (Olaniyan & Yahaya, 2016). Reports indicate the flourishing of bandit groups, whose members were seen displaying automatic weapons, terrorising herders’ settlements, farms, villages and the highways with the mission of killing people, kidnapping and pillaging cows (Olaniyan, 2018). It was reported that between October, 2013 and March, 2014, 7,000 cattle were rustled from commercial livestock farms and traditional herders in Northern Nigeria (Bashir, 2014; Tauna, 2016) while about 330 attacks were made by bandits and 1,460 deaths were recorded between January and July, 2019 (Abdullahi, 2019). In most cases, the bandits killed and maimed the people and raped the women before dispossessing them of their cows (Akowe& Kayode, 2014) while in some instances, they also kidnapped girls or women in the process (Adeniyi, 2015; Yusuf, 2015).

Suffice to say that the northwestern region of Nigeria encompasses seven states namely Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi. Five of these states, which are Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi have been mostly affected by the scourge of banditry. Of these five states, Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara have been the most critical hot spots. It is however, pertinent to note that the incidences of banditry are not limited to northwestern Nigeria. In fact, it is also prevalent in some parts of north-central region, in states like Niger, Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau which are equally regarded as hotbeds (Kuna & Jibrin 2016).

Scholars like Gaye (2018), Olaniyan and Yahaya (2016), Suleiman (2017) and Mustapha (2019) have advanced several factors for the cause and prevalence of banditry in Nigeria. Some of the factors they argued include the fragility of Nigerian state, weak state institutions, especially the security agencies, availability of grossly ungoverned spaces, porosity of Nigeria’s borders with its neighbouring countries and arms proliferation, weak leadership, corruption, unemployment and mass poverty.

Furthermore, despite the federal framework adopted by Nigeria’s forefathers, Nigeria’s security architecture since the incursion of the military in Nigeria’s politics is contrived in such a manner that the control of every security outfit is placed in the hands of the President at the centre. Though the governor is recognised by Nigeria’s constitution as the Chief Security Officer of the state, in actual fact, he wields no power over the police that could be put to use in times of crisis. This precarious situation places every governor at the mercy of the President in the period of crisis at the state level denying him the opportunity to confront security challenges with expediency and expertise. This is one of the reasons why people are clamouring for restructuring that will, among others, effect the creation of state police to meet the immediate needs of every state.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Naira Redesign in Curbing banditry.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that there is no gainsaying the fact that banditry poses a serious challenge not only to the security of Northwest states but to the country at large in view of its ever-increasing impacts and implications. The level at which armed bandits operate within the northwest region calls for attention by both the State and Federal governments, more especially, since the latter controls the state security apparatuses. This complex situation of social violence and insecurity in the affected states had been on for almost a decade now (Okoli &Ogayi, 2018). The increasing attacks of bandit groups have led to the destruction of lives and properties, displacement of people from their communities; and a growing numbers of widows; widowers and orphans, who now reside in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps following the continued attacks of armed bandits on both farming and pastoral communities across different areas of the states (Okoli &Ochim, 2016; Mustapha, 2019).

Though the police is traditionally responsible for the maintenance of peace, law and order within the nation, it appears that its personnel are being overstretched by the responsibility of securing the political process and political functionaries of the state apart from the fact that it is ill-equipped to meet the challenges of contemporary security needs. In addition, Nigeria is under-policed, its personnel is grossly inadequate, running short of the United Nations requirements or ratio of one police to four hundred citizens. Furthermore, the salary of the police personnel is poor; welfare services are nonexistent while there has been no incentive to boost their morale. The general social discontent and distrust among citizens have made the probable collaboration between the security men and the people fragile thus inhibiting the efficient and effective performance of security agencies in successfully confronting the bandit groups. This development has therefore, affected government efforts in achieving the desired goal of crushing banditry in the Northwest region.

Against the backdrop of the upsurge in incidences of banditry in recent times, this study examined the phenomenon of banditry as it affects the security of the northwest region of Nigeria in the fourth republic.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Naira Redesign in Curbing Banditry in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To determine the relationship between Naira design and banditry in Nigeria;
2. To examined the impact of Naira redesign in curbing banditry in Nigeria; and
3. To find out the effectiveness of Naira redesign in curbing banditry in Nigeria.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is there a relationship between Naira design and banditry in Nigeria?
• Is Naira redesign effective in curbing banditry in Nigeria?
• What is the impact of Naira redesign in curbing banditry in Nigeria?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant impact of Naira redesign in curbing banditry in Nigeria.
• H1: There is a significant impact of Naira redesign in curbing banditry in Nigeria.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no relationship between Naira design and banditry in Nigeria.
• H1: There is a relationship between Naira design and banditry in Nigeria.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: Naira redesign is not effective in curbing banditry in Nigeria.
• H1: Naira redesign is effective in curbing banditry in Nigeria.

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Naira Redesign in Curbing Banditry in Nigeria.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Banditry: Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence.

Currency Redesign: Redesigning currencies is an activity for sovereign nations. It allows the currency-issuing country to improve the currency’s security to deter counterfeiting