Salient Issues on Violent Crimes in Nigeria

A lot of pundits are of the opinion that there is a relationship between the rising spade of insecurity to the level of poverty in the country. Those who make such assertion justify it with the adage that says a hungry man is indeed an angry man.
The fact remains that poverty in itself is a motivating factor in violent crimes even though there are people who are ravaged by poverty yet they don’t indulge in criminality but if viewed holistically poverty can also be a major factor. An impoverished individual is someone who lacks the basic necessities of living a fulfilled life. According to the United Nations any individual who doesn’t have access to at least $2 in a day (N300) can be said to be impoverished individual. In the absence of basic sustainance individuals fall into a circle which expands because he/she cannot adequately acquire the tools needed to be productive. One of such tools is functional basic education.
A properly educated person is expected to be capable of navigating himself out of the poverty circle through the utilization of acquired knowledge and skills. In the case of Nigeria, many people who go through school acquire certificates but end up uneducated, this has led to a situation where the educational system produces what is referred to as ‘half baked graduates’ who are unemployable due to lack of initiative.
As the unemployment doldrums expands, a lot of idle people litter the society breeding frustrations which manifest in the form of violent crimes. Presently a lot of educated folks have to indulge in menial jobs which are not at par with their social status just to elk out a living. A situation where people loose their self esteem due to underemployment ensures that such people are willing to do anything to meet up with societal expectations like raising a family and owning property and this leads some people to engage in unlawful activities which brings rancour.
Any society that neglects the adoption of the rule of law will also experience violent crimes because of lack of justice. Citizens look up to the government to provide social justice by ensuring that law breakers are punished as a compensation for the aggrieved and a deterrent for potential offenders. It will be an understatement to say that the system of law and order in Nigeria is virtually non existent to the extent that law breaking has become a norm rather than an exception. Instances abound in our daily lives where the person seen to be advocating lawful actions are seen as being stupid or mischievous. Our law courts and security apparatus have been converted to commodities for sale where the person with the most cash is always right. This has led people into taking laws in their hands by dishing out instant barbaric justice like burning of suspected petty thieves who they believe will not be adequately dealt with in the criminal justice system.
The glorification of wealth by religious and traditional institutions also encourages corruption which tends to create a situation where the people are willing to engage in wanton looting and barefaced mismanagement of resources meant for the provision of social amenities and infrastructure. The absence of social security in turn has a multiplier effect of eroding values because people will want to live up to expectations beyond their means.
It is the accumulation of these factors stated above that culminate into violent crimes which manifest in form of kidnapping,armed robbery, piracy, embezzlement and terrorism. Some other factors like foreign conspiracies have also been listed as factors that breed violent crimes but am of the opinion that no foreigner can destabilize a country wwithout the collaborations of citizens and this only happens when the earlier state factors are rooted in such a country.Wothout

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