Abstract
The greatest challenge facing Nigeria today is international terrorism that is aided by religious extremism, porosity of borderline and cross-border security challenges and crime. Indeed, the existence of porous borders and cross-border and frontier activities in Nigeria has aided crimes and security challenges across Nigerian borders for long without any specific solutions. This paper examines the security challenges and the socio-economic effects of insurgency and armed banditry in Nigeria. The country as a nation state is under a severe internal socio economic and security threat. At a more general level, the threat has social, economic, political and environmental dimensions. Each of these dimensions has greatly affected the nation’s stability, and can be traced to the ethnic militia armies, ethnic and religious conflicts, poverty, terrorism, armed robbery, corruption, economic sabotage and environmental degradation. The efforts of the government to eradicate insurgency, banditry and corruption have been slow and costly in terms of public funds spent, lives and properties lost. This has made the citizenry to question, the efficiency of the menace. Using frustration-aggression theory, the paper then revealed that the major criminal activities in Nigeria borders are smuggling of contraband goods and illegal immigrants, trafficking in weapons and human parts, drug trafficking, vehicle crime, trafficking of illegally exploited natural resources, including the illicit trade in timber, oil and diamond among others. This growth and flourishing entry without proper check or monitoring, has brought about insurgency, armed banditry, kidnapping and corruption, etc. which has become a problem of security as a result of these borderless-borders in Nigeria, with armed banditry becoming one of the most intractable challenges facing the country today. There are many speculations that the groups may have found their way through our porous borders. Therefore, the study probes into the nature of Nigeria borders using Historical/descriptive method of research and analysis in Armed Banditry and Border Monitoring: Challenges for Nigeria’s Security, Peace and Sustainable Development. The study data were collected through documentation of secondary sources, including review of related literature journals and write-ups even as it built on the findings of already existing works about emerging security threats in Nigeria. The study is concluded by recommending among others that the country should evolve a sustainable social security system which will discourage public office holders from engaging in corruption, with good information sharing techniques providing gainful employment opportunities for the citizenry, etc.
 
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Highlights
Armed banditry is the act of attacking people on highways and on transit points, storming and ransacking of whole villages, stealing hundreds of cattle, with extortion, kidnapping, robbery, murder and the likes
Border security and the management of borders in ways that promotes national security, has generally been given low priority in Africa compared to security provided for political elites and their assets in the national capitals and other urban areas far-removed from the borders
Border security or monitoring and the management of borders in ways that promotes national security has generally been given low priority in Africa, compared to security provided for political elites and their assets in the national capitals and other urban areas far-removed from the borders
Summary
Armed banditry is the act of attacking people on highways and on transit points, storming and ransacking of whole villages, stealing hundreds of cattle, with extortion, kidnapping, robbery, murder and the likes. This, has culminated into a state of violence and insecurity, with manifestations ranging from displacement of people to murder, robbery, kidnapping to disruption of child schooling and to unemployment and the likes in Nigeria, making the special resolution of the senate, sponsored by senators from the affected constituents to call on the Presidency to mount diplomatic pressures on Cameroun, Chad, Niger and Benin to deal with the unbearable problem of armed bandits operating from bases widely believed to be located in the adjacent border areas of the neighboring countries (Asiwaju, 2005). It necessitated this paper work to find out: (1) who are the bandits, (2) what drives or causes armed banditry, (3) who are the targets/victims and (4) the extent to which it threatens Nigeria’s borderlines, security, peace and sustainable development even as it seeks to proffer remedies or lasting solutions to armed banditry in Nigeria
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