Arms Proliferation And Kidnapping In Northwst Nigeria: Causes And Effects

Abstract

Arms Proliferation and Kidnapping have become one of the security challenges in the Northwest Nigeria. It is an illicit practice in which human-beings are forcefully abducted to an unknown destination for the purpose of payment of ransom by relatives of victims or victims themselves .Kidnappers use gun to prosecute their operations. The predominance of this illicit practice has made the northwest geopolitical zone of the country to be ranked as the most security risk areas of the country. The major objective of this paper is to examine the causes and effects of Arms proliferation and kidnapping in the Northwest Nigeria. Many factors account for this development, prominent among which include Arms proliferation, social injustice, poverty, unemployment, corruption and insecurity etc. The methods used in this work are the descriptive and analytical methods. The use of library materials was employed. Related texts, journals, special publications and newspapers were analyzed using content analysis and Routine Activities Theory was applied as theoretical framework. The effects conclude social dislocation and internal displacement, destruction of schools and educational infrastructures, discouraged investment and triggered economic crises, deaths and fatalities etc. The paper recommends that governments of the zone should embark on policies  and programmes that will address the causes of arms proliferation and  kidnapping in the zone by addressing the high rate of poverty, creating employment opportunities for the youths, address the issue of drug abuse among the youths  and ensure good governance at all levels of government. The governments of the zone should as a matter of urgency address the issue of out of school children as this forms  the army of the unemployed , those of them who are still of school age should be enrolled into school and those who have out grown school age should be made to acquire skill.