Communal tracking approach to insecurity in Nigeria: A prognostic contemplation on Amotekun, the Nigerian Southwest Security Outfit

Abstract

Crime proliferation and insecurity represent a multidirectional broadband in social analysis. Crimes generally are outcome of carefully planned and diligently executed mischief of a belligerent group against a target. Crimes are rarely capable of sudden self-propagation. Indexes of insecurity and interest-based assaults of one group against another in the form of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and communal/ethnic attacks scarcely manifest as entirely externallyinflicted social ills without insiders’ collaboration. Terrorism, banditry and kidnapping as crimes, are at the same time living social organisms that are birthed, nurtured and resourced for attainment of some strategic social objectives. The advanced phase of armed attack manifests only at their maturity. Based on available primary and secondary data on security challenges, aside from arguing that increasing incidence of insecurity in Nigeria results more from economic and ideological roots: political, economic, cultural, religion and ethnic, this paper insists that crimes have both latent and manifest gestational traits. Therefore, it is here conjectured that before crimes attain maturity, Communal TrackingApproach (CTA) to security stands the best strategy for early detection, avoidance and/or prevention of crimes. This paper recommends that if the objective of the new complementary security organization in the Nigerian Southwest, codenamed Amotekun, is to be realized, it must be built more on CTA. Given that Amotekun is not likely to be as resourced as the Nigerian military, and particularly with the everincreasing proliferation of arms among the belligerent elements, CTA, with its communal stance, above all alternate measures, offers a less costly strategy to securing the citizens and the nation.