PEACE BUILDING AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: PANACEA TO INSECURITY IN NIGERIA. By Promise Olamilekan Odejide

Being sure of the time, space, and occurrences, the notion of banditry has pass through diverse modifications. Europe and American in the 19th century, bandit was considered as a liberation trooper whose ambition was to guarantee the liberation of the downtroddens from the upper class or the colonizers. In some pre-industrial societies, peasants see bandits as the poor people’s champions while the government regarded them as outlaws, bandits, or hoodlums.

Regardless, in a distinctive customary African environment, a bandit is a person who is trained and specialized in armed robbery and other affiliated crimes. In Africa banditry demonstrates in the form of killing, maiming, and profligate destruction of lives and properties and this comprises a discernible security challenge.

 Although banditry is not something strange across the globe , the situation has worsened with even the supposedly untouchable people in the society being attacked by unruly elements daily. This has led to humanitarian problems where so many have become homeless with thousands of children becoming orphans.

A remarkable researchers said that different factors motivate banditry in a given country. These factors are: Nepotism, Religion dichotomy, unemployment and most important of all is poverty. Poverty is said to give birth to banditry because the aim of bandits is to steal what they want.

Building a peaceful nation free from terrorist and bandits requires investment on the security sectors; whether it is for the military, whether it is for the police or even for the intelligence services. Lack of investment on the securities reveals the security challenges and this is evident in the lack of capacity for security agencies.

In terms of numbers, security can not be enough, in terms of equipment, it's not enough and in terms of training, some countries are lacking. So when you say a state of emergency, it means the government should devote more resources and put them in the military. Put the money to get more troops. 

To make the security agents be proactive, government needs to equip the security agencies with necessary equipment in terms of arms and ammunition and communication equipment, their welfare should be taken into consideration and there should be adequate funding for the frontline personnel fighting the war.

While recruiting more personnels, there is a crucial need to monitor their movements and operations because the sympathetic stance some men in armed forces reportedly have towards the bandits. There have always been rotten eggs among the armed forces who decide to side with these bandits for financial gain. There are also others who give the excuse of not being paid enough to take care of their needs and this causes them to sell out information to the bandits and ensure their swift release if arrested. An instance of security officials colluding with criminals is that of the Nigeria former Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari who is currently involved in a $1.1million fraud case with Abbas Ramon, an online fraudster popularly known as Hushpuppi.

Close monitoring will exposed those who have mutual relationship with the bandit, because while fueling the armed force, the bad eggs are making the job difficult for others.

Unemployment or underemployment critically impact banditry. it is believed that an idle hand is devil's workshop, an individual can be easily entice into banditry when he is idle or he is not well paid. The government should be responsible for creation of job and make sure the payment is done at when due. Most research outcome says, bandits caught in the act, said they are educated but it's difficult for them to get a job to defend their expenses. so provision and circulation of job contribute to the development of a peaceful nation.

Likewise, government should come up with different programmes, one of which should be poverty alleviation programmes that will targeted to the lower class in the country. It is said that bandit steal to get what they want.These programmes should be structured at building enterprenuers that will make income or means to an end without kidnapping or abducting anyone for ransome.

Also, building a nation where there's different ethnic groups and religion difference, heads of community and religious leaders should guide their followers to the right behavior. Banditry can be ignited when there's religion crises or ethnicity war, decades ago, religion war is said to be more bloodier and tough, it has rendered many homeless and hopeless while many children have become orphans.

Security is the responsibility of everyone in a given country, citizens should be security conscious of their immediate environment, the security agencies lifeline should be available and must be reachable 24/7. Being the grassroot, the citizens can stimulate the security agencies when there is strange movement in the environment, with these there will no way the bandits will grow wings in that part of settlement.

Above all, to have a peaceful nation free from banditry, the government and citizens have enormous role to perform, especially in a democratic setting, the government depends on citizens while the citizens depend on government. So, when the government is trying to protect the citizens, it is the duties of the citizens to hint the government about any strange occurrence in their environment. the government should designated the finance meant for the security agencies to appropriate purses so as fulfill their pledge to the citizens.

Nonetheless, In the 19th century, banditry is known to be revolutionary group but it has been hijacked by corrupt and idle men, in order to curb their actions in the country, government should formulate and follow up on the sentence "Offender must not go unpunished". Paramount punishment should be given to citizen with illegal possession of ammunitions. Some citizen posses ammunition in illegal way and this is a grievous offence should not be pitied or pardoned, government should ensure that this individuals face the law for what they have done.