Abstract
In the 21st century, the internet has become a quicker platform through which crimes are reported to the public. Through the new media, Trent Online and Nigeria Watch have consistently updated their database and pages with reports on criminality across the country. While some of such criminal acts were non-violent, others were lethal. Findings show that armed robberies have become the dominant crimes in Nigeria, contributing about 50% of an overall 8516 deaths in 3, 840 fatal incidents between June 2006 and September, 2015 nationwide. Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Benue and Imo states were reported as the most affected crime states. Findings also show more crime fatalities in the Southern part of Nigeria than in the North. This article there maintains that the inability of government to address most of the sources of crime explains why it has become difficult to nip in the bud.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND
OF STUDY
Crime is one of the human security problems confronting humanity across
the world. Nations have grappled to contain the rising incidence of homicide,
armed robbery, and kidnap, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, illegal gun
running and host of others. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2011
reported that homicides globally were estimated at 468,000 and more than a
third (36%) was estimated to have occurred in Africa, 31% in the Americas, 27%
in Asia, 5% in Europe and 1% in the tropical Pacific region3.
According to the report, economic crisis; food insecurity; inflation; and weak
or limited rule of law are factors that drive crime. However, the drivers of
crime are not restricted to the aforementioned causative factors. In the
Americas, more than 25% of homicides are related to “organized crime and the
activities of criminal gangs”; the same only true of approximately 5% of
homicides in the Asian and European countries for which data are available[1].
Africa has been on the forefront on global statistics on crime. South
Africa and Nigeria have recorded high incidents of violent and non-violent
crimes in recent times. According to Africa Check, that incidents of murder
increased from 15 609 murders in 2011/12 to 16 259 murders in 2012/13 in South
Africa, with increase of 650 murder cases or a 4,2% increase when comparing the
total numbers of murders with the previous year5. According to the same report,
murders and attempted murders that take place during aggravated robbery or
inter-group conflict (such as gang or taxi violence), and vigilantism make up
between 35% and 45% of all murders and attempted murders[2].
Nigeria is currently caught in the web of crime dilemma, manifesting in
the convulsive upsurge of both violent and non-violent crimes[3].
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[4]. The
upsurge of crime has been ongoing as Nigeria has been on the global crime map
since 1980s[5].
These throes of crime for decades are traceable to poverty, poor parental
upbringing, and greed amongst the youth; get rich quick mentality, inadequate
crime control model of national security among others. Events of past few years
show that the spate of crime has assumed a debilitating proportion and requires
the intervention of policy makers in this regard. According to Osawe, crime
portrays the inability of government to provide a secure and safe environment
for lives, properties and the conduct of economic activities considering the
alarming increase in criminal activities in Nigeria such as armed robbery, terrorism
and other related crimes[6].
Olanrewaju avers that crime relates to drug use which has the social
consequence on students manifesting in various forms including assassination,
kidnapping, kidnapping, lack of interest in education, armed robbery and other
criminal offences[7].
It has been observed that a factor which motivates criminality is that
availability of arms in the hands of illegal users, particularly civilians. For
instance, Hull et al posit that the
proliferation of arms contributes to conflict in two main ways namely:
‘increasingly lethal firepower is likely to cause higher levels of destruction;
and that augmentation of sophisticated weaponry creates a vicious cycle whereby
competing militias engage in an arms race to gain dominance in capability[8].
A Third Report on Violence in Nigeria (2006-2011) by Nigeria Watch
Database noted that the second main cause of violence is crime. This is heavily
concentrated in the South, especially in highly populated areas like Lagos and
Port Harcourt. Yet the Middle Belt is not immune from armed robbery and
banditry, especially in Plateau State, which records higher crime rates[9].
These statistics on the trend and patterns of violent and on-violent crimes are
worrisome and needs urgent attention from a multi-dimensional approach by
stakeholders involved anti- crime crusade.
JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY
The availability of the old and new media makes it easier for
organizations to report criminal cases in Nigeria and world over. Through these
media platforms, social networking sites update their pages with reports on
crime across the country. This study there seek to be more relevant to scholars
and stakeholders in the fight against crime by answering questions regarding
the nature of lethal and non-lethal crimes reported on the Trent Online[10] and
Nigeria Watch[11]
database.