Analysis of the Insecurity Facing Katsina Metropolitan, Katsina State

Abstract

One of the major challenges facing the global community at present is the contemporary insecurity facing most of the nations of the world which has risen by an alarming rate as a result of series of protracted armed conflicts including full-scale wars ragging in different parts of the globe. In the continent of Africa and elsewhere, metropolitan areas are the centers of protests and unrests arising from economic hardships thereby creating insecurity. Metropolitan areas as centers of administration, social, economic and political activities are facing different forms of insecurity of varying degrees depending on the country. The objectives of the study are to analyze the insecurity facing Katsina metropolitan, highlight the response of the residents and the security forces towards tackling it. The methodology employed in data collection is focus group discussions involving ten persons in two groups each from the four administrative wards of the metropolitan located at the northern, eastern, western and southern parts. The data collected from the focus groups were complemented with secondary sourced data from desk research and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that the contemporary forms of insecurity facing the metropolitan area include burglary and house-breaking, theft of motorcycles and motor cars, armed robbery, hooliganism by political thugs and intermittent incursions by bandits to kidnap wealthy residents. These forms of insecurity have persisted despite the concerted efforts of the security agents and the residents towards tackling it. There is therefore the urgent need to introduce viable, innovative and practical security management strategies to achieve the security of lives and properties in the metropolitan area.