Insurgency and Armed Banditry in Central Nigeria: Dissecting the Existing Policy Options
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/fb_ijcss.2025.1.2.11Keywords:
armed banditry, insurgency, insecurity, socio-economic development, policy optionsAbstract
This study examines the security challenges posed by insurgency and armed banditry in Central Nigeria and proposes policy options to mitigate these issues. A secure nation ensures development. Unfortunately, Central Nigeria is drifting apart in this aspect because of the activities of insurgency and armed banditry. Although providing a peaceful and secure nation is enormous, especially in a heterogeneous geopolitical zone such as Central Nigeria, the government's efforts yield little result. This paper reviews the security architecture in place to stop this menace. In terms of methodology, secondary data were used; the paper opined that insurgency and armed banditry affect socio-economic development in the Central Nigeria complex, while content analysis was conducted on the data. The paper further reviews that insecurity is one of the main destructive tools to socio-economic development in Central Nigeria. The paper, therefore, concludes that a safe and secure Central Nigeria ensures not only development but also creates an avenue for all-around development. Thus, it recommends that to ensure development in Central Nigeria, combating insurgency and armed banditry in the region should be the starting point, which can be achieved through education and advocacy.
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