Nigerian system feeds criminality and insecurity

Armed robbery is a complex criminal offence and first-timers rarely participate in the act successfully. The effective operation strategies and materials needed are only available to experienced criminals. Today, we are contending with highly sophisticated robbers, cultists, kidnappers in the country.

All these deviants groom themselves together to become experienced armed robbers, and with global communication gadget, recruitment and appointment are easier than ever. Yet, there has been no lasting solution to these frequent levels of insecurity.

Even in hamlets, some level of social order and security is necessary for economic growth. The state of insecurity in the country has brought so many negative effects, including untimely death and loss of properties.

There is a wise saying that ‘a person that fails to plan, plans to fail at the end’.  Persistent insecurity remains a social menace that resulted from the weak institutions and social organisation within the country. A lot of emphasis is laid on whistle blowing and rewards for the robbers’ identification instead of restructuring institutions and reinvigorating the spirit of neighborliness amongst citizens.  In Nigeria, the constitution and the judicial system protect the offenders more than the victims.

In support of this bias to offenders is the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria which paved the way for an offender or convict to go scot-free through this modern concept of state pardon. Specifically, the President or the governor releases their political thugs and cultists (murderers) used during the electioneering campaigns through this provision.

A band-wagon of different armed robbers, condemned ritualists, merciless cultists and the like of  killer-pastors such as Rev. King are still in the prison. One need not bother about the logicality of keeping these devilish people in our prison. Are they in custody to train new culprits?

Retributive and expensive theories conform to the archaic law of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth’. A criminal is thought to be indebted to the society; therefore, they serve a punishment which is the act of paying back the society for the wrongdoing.

The judiciary is another facilitator where the court processes are delayed for donkey years. The judges turn themselves to demi-gods and set criminals free without recourse to the effects their action on the society. Where are the law enforcement agencies when many robbers carried sophisticated weapons in broad daylight in Offa? The armed robbers operated for hours without resistance from all neighbouring states. I guess SARS are in operation to extort money from the so-called ‘yahoo-boys’ only.

The role of the family as an institution has been eroded and people fail to realise that children’s exposure to cultural norms determines their level of conformity. No reliable informants were found among the residents because of weak social institutions.

Dr Adeleke Gbadebo

Osun State University,

lekegbade1@gmail.com