Armed Banditry and Challenges of Governance System: Implications for National Development in Nigeria

Ahmodu Alhassan — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every society aims the develop its citizenry without jeopardizing the prospects of future generations. One of the challenges to national development is banditry. The criminal act leads to loss of lives and property, the disintegration of national unity or cohesion, the destruction of critical infrastructure, and the loss of investors. The dearth of literature on banditry as an obstacle to governance systems and development motivated this paper. Hence, the study examines the nexus between governance and armed bandits’ activities, as well as its effects on the people and national development. The study is theoretically anchored in frustration-aggression theory to examine the growth and flourishing of armed banditry as obstacles to governance and its consequences for national development. The study employs secondary data sources, including a review of related literature, journals, write-ups, and textbooks. Findings show that banditry involving kidnapping, armed robbery, and theft is a threat to governance and national development. These violent crimes aggravate unemployment, food shortage, loss of lives, and property. This aggravates crime rates in Nigeria. The paper recommends intelligence security measures to counter the rising incidents of kidnapping in the country. Banditry is perpetrated with sophisticated weapons, and the source of those weapons should be investigated and blocked accordingly by the Federal Government of Nigeria. All illegal routes to the country should be thoroughly monitored by the Nigeria Customs Service. The unscrupulous members of the public who are smuggling weapons into the country should be arrested and brought to book. Their foreign accomplice should be handed over to Interpol for further investigation.

International Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies

Armed Banditry and Challenges of Governance System: Implications for National Development in Nigeria