Ungoverned Spaces and Rural Armed Banditry in the North West Nigeria: A Study of Selected Local Government Areas (2015-2022)

Abstract

The spate of armed banditry in Nigeria, especially in our rural communities, is unprecedented. This paper therefore examines the contentious issues of ungoverned, space within the context of rural banditry. The study is methodologically structured in qualitative and quantitative methods, whereby data were Warned from textbooks, journals, government publications. These were described, explained and analyzed within the context of the subject matter under investigation. The paper recognized the role played by ethnicity, poverty, revisions bigotry and the rising cost of living as factors that could have led to criminality but it argued that the failure of the Federal Government of Nigeria to perform its constitutional role among other things, is the major reason why the scourge of armed banditry has continued unbated in the North and other parts of the country. Unless government take practical steps to provide the needed security in Nigeria, the fight against banditry in Nigeria would be a mirage.