Report links rising crime rate to despairing youth
A recent survey on criminal victimisation in Nigeria has revealed that the growing state of insecurity will continue unabated unless government takes urgent steps to provide jobs for its teeming unemployed youth.
The report, “National Criminal Victimisation and Safety Survey 2011,” prepared by CLEEN Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation, contained findings on criminal victimisation statistics and showed a sharp increase in armed robbery and other violent crimes in the country as a result of unemployment, hopelessness, and corruption.
The findings by the group, with support from MacArthur Foundation, also showed that based on the survey in 2010, there have been incessant cases of theft of mobile phones as well as domestic violence.
Innocent Chukwuma, the Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, said the survey, which has been on since 2004, is aimed at providing reliable data to assist policymakers in enacting effective laws that will combat crime as well as provide law enforcement agencies with the statistics to effectively control crime in the country. “
This investment is producing reliable statistics on crime in Nigeria and promotion of their use in police planning and deployment strategies as well as in the evaluation of policing policies and practices,” Chukwuma said. “It is therefore not surprising that in spite of the various crime control measures that have been implemented in the country over the past eleven years of elected civilian government, criminals continue to operate in greater numbers over increasingly wider spheres.”
According to Chukwuma, the increasing crime rate in the country can be attributed to socio-economic factors which imply that government has failed in its responsibility to create the enabling environment for citizens to live a fulfilled life. “These issues are not new to the government as our recommendations over the years show that it is not enough to increase police capacity by giving them guns and equipment to work with,” Mr Chukwuma said. “There are socio-economic factors like youth unemployment, poverty, poor education which make even graduates to look for jobs instead of creating one for themselves.
Etannibi Alemika, a professor in the Department of Criminology and Sociology at University of Jos, said the effective implementation of crime statistics will go a long way in enhancing national development. “Due to the significance of crime and victimisation statistics, nations strive to develop adequate capacity and deploy enough human, financial and infrastructural resources for the collection and analysis of incidence, prevalence trend and patterns of criminal activities and victimisation in order to acquire necessary knowledge and ability for crime prevention and crime control,” Mr Alemika, who is also Director of Research at CLEEN Foundation, said. According to him, crime victimisation survey is used to obtain data on the extent of criminal victimisation. “Questionnaires were designed and administered to gather information on respondents’ experience of criminal victimisation,” he said. According to Mr Alemika, a survey research methodology was employed for the study.
The population for the study consisted of all adult Nigerian males and females aged 18 years and older and was conducted in all the 36 states and the federal capital territory. Further, the basic methodology employed for the data collection was the in-home, face-to-face personal interview using stratified multi-stage random selection procedure in order to achieve a nationally representative sample. A total of 11, 518 respondents were interviewed. Fieldwork was conducted by Practical Sampling International.
“The major findings on criminal victimisation are fear of crime and corruption. Respondents were asked if any member of their household, other than themselves, had been victims of specific crimes in 2010,” Mr Chukwuma said. “The second question asked the respondents was if they were victims of specific crimes during 2010 and from our findings the most common form of victimisation was theft of various kinds of property (GSM handset, money, and agricultural produce) domestic violence; armed robbery and physical assault were also on the increase.”
The report showed that 24 percent of respondents reported being victims of crime in 2010. According to the personal victimisation survey, the highest level of cases of reported victimisation were in Jigawa with 73.7 percent; Rivers state with 52.0 percent; FCT 51.0 percent while Lagos has 11.25 percent; with Osun state being the least with 7.9 percent. One aspect of the survey revealed the level of corruption among security agencies in the country.
The Nigeria Police Force tops the list of security agencies demanding for bribe with a 78.8 percent likelihood to solicit for bribe prior to service; others include the Nigeria Customs service with 67.7 percent; Nigeria Immigration service with 66.8 percent; the Federal Road Safety Commission, 55.1 percent; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 51.0%; and the State security Service, 50.1%. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were the only agency that would not solicit for bribe prior to service, according to the study.
“Our approach is to determine the extent of corruption among officials by asking those who had contacts with officials of different agencies who asked them for bribe,” Mr Chukwuma said.
The survey also showed that majority of Nigerians who had contact with the Police, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not satisfied with the manner their cases was handled.
In the aspect of fear of crime, the survey revealed that residents were fearful of rape, kidnapping and being victim to armed robbers and murderers.
The study also shows that 47.8 percent of the respondents feel very safe walking in their community during the day. While armed robbery and domestic violence were recurring crimes residents stated as being on the increase in their community, assault and burglary were also mentioned as serious concerns. “
From the survey, domestic violence is becoming a worrisome trend with one out of five respondents stating that they are a victim of domestic violence, also one out of two respondents said their handset was stolen.
These are increasing trends in crime and the government needs to take these issues seriously,” Chukwuma said.
Alemika added that the policy recommendation for the priority spending to enhance security, safety and justice in the country must address the issue of job creation. “
And also create better educational and vocational opportunities, reduce poverty, provide stable electricity, increase the capacity of the police and other law enforcement agencies.
“Also, there should be harsher punishment for offenders which will serve as a deterrent to others and, in all, there is need to have the political will to fight crime and criminality proactively through intelligence gathering and synergy among the security agencies,” Alemika said.
A recent survey on criminal victimisation in Nigeria has revealed that the growing state of insecurity will continue unabated unless government takes urgent steps to provide jobs for its teeming unemployed youth.
The report, “National Criminal Victimisation and Safety Survey 2011,” prepared by CLEEN Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation, contained findings on criminal victimisation statistics and showed a sharp increase in armed robbery and other violent crimes in the country as a result of unemployment, hopelessness, and corruption.
The findings by the group, with support from MacArthur Foundation, also showed that based on the survey in 2010, there have been incessant cases of theft of mobile phones as well as domestic violence.
Innocent Chukwuma, the Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, said the survey, which has been on since 2004, is aimed at providing reliable data to assist policymakers in enacting effective laws that will combat crime as well as provide law enforcement agencies with the statistics to effectively control crime in the country. “
This investment is producing reliable statistics on crime in Nigeria and promotion of their use in police planning and deployment strategies as well as in the evaluation of policing policies and practices,” Chukwuma said. “It is therefore not surprising that in spite of the various crime control measures that have been implemented in the country over the past eleven years of elected civilian government, criminals continue to operate in greater numbers over increasingly wider spheres.”
According to Chukwuma, the increasing crime rate in the country can be attributed to socio-economic factors which imply that government has failed in its responsibility to create the enabling environment for citizens to live a fulfilled life. “These issues are not new to the government as our recommendations over the years show that it is not enough to increase police capacity by giving them guns and equipment to work with,” Mr Chukwuma said. “There are socio-economic factors like youth unemployment, poverty, poor education which make even graduates to look for jobs instead of creating one for themselves.
Etannibi Alemika, a professor in the Department of Criminology and Sociology at University of Jos, said the effective implementation of crime statistics will go a long way in enhancing national development. “Due to the significance of crime and victimisation statistics, nations strive to develop adequate capacity and deploy enough human, financial and infrastructural resources for the collection and analysis of incidence, prevalence trend and patterns of criminal activities and victimisation in order to acquire necessary knowledge and ability for crime prevention and crime control,” Mr Alemika, who is also Director of Research at CLEEN Foundation, said. According to him, crime victimisation survey is used to obtain data on the extent of criminal victimisation. “Questionnaires were designed and administered to gather information on respondents’ experience of criminal victimisation,” he said. According to Mr Alemika, a survey research methodology was employed for the study.
The population for the study consisted of all adult Nigerian males and females aged 18 years and older and was conducted in all the 36 states and the federal capital territory. Further, the basic methodology employed for the data collection was the in-home, face-to-face personal interview using stratified multi-stage random selection procedure in order to achieve a nationally representative sample. A total of 11, 518 respondents were interviewed. Fieldwork was conducted by Practical Sampling International.
“The major findings on criminal victimisation are fear of crime and corruption. Respondents were asked if any member of their household, other than themselves, had been victims of specific crimes in 2010,” Mr Chukwuma said. “The second question asked the respondents was if they were victims of specific crimes during 2010 and from our findings the most common form of victimisation was theft of various kinds of property (GSM handset, money, and agricultural produce) domestic violence; armed robbery and physical assault were also on the increase.”
The report showed that 24 percent of respondents reported being victims of crime in 2010. According to the personal victimisation survey, the highest level of cases of reported victimisation were in Jigawa with 73.7 percent; Rivers state with 52.0 percent; FCT 51.0 percent while Lagos has 11.25 percent; with Osun state being the least with 7.9 percent. One aspect of the survey revealed the level of corruption among security agencies in the country.
The Nigeria Police Force tops the list of security agencies demanding for bribe with a 78.8 percent likelihood to solicit for bribe prior to service; others include the Nigeria Customs service with 67.7 percent; Nigeria Immigration service with 66.8 percent; the Federal Road Safety Commission, 55.1 percent; the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 51.0%; and the State security Service, 50.1%. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were the only agency that would not solicit for bribe prior to service, according to the study.
“Our approach is to determine the extent of corruption among officials by asking those who had contacts with officials of different agencies who asked them for bribe,” Mr Chukwuma said.
The survey also showed that majority of Nigerians who had contact with the Police, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not satisfied with the manner their cases was handled.
In the aspect of fear of crime, the survey revealed that residents were fearful of rape, kidnapping and being victim to armed robbers and murderers.
The study also shows that 47.8 percent of the respondents feel very safe walking in their community during the day. While armed robbery and domestic violence were recurring crimes residents stated as being on the increase in their community, assault and burglary were also mentioned as serious concerns. “
From the survey, domestic violence is becoming a worrisome trend with one out of five respondents stating that they are a victim of domestic violence, also one out of two respondents said their handset was stolen.
These are increasing trends in crime and the government needs to take these issues seriously,” Chukwuma said.
Alemika added that the policy recommendation for the priority spending to enhance security, safety and justice in the country must address the issue of job creation. “
And also create better educational and vocational opportunities, reduce poverty, provide stable electricity, increase the capacity of the police and other law enforcement agencies.
“Also, there should be harsher punishment for offenders which will serve as a deterrent to others and, in all, there is need to have the political will to fight crime and criminality proactively through intelligence gathering and synergy among the security agencies,” Alemika said.
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