BANDITRY AND SECURITY CHALLENGES IN BENUE STATE 2015-2022

The study examined the armed banditry and security challenges in Benue state. The study was anchored on frustration aggression theory. The method adopted in this study was a descriptive survey design with questionnaire being the major source of data collection. The findings of the study showed that Benue state has witnessed an unprecedented level of insecurity. This has threatened national security and has prompted huge allocation of the state budget to security. The study further showed that crimes in Benue State are perpetrated due to the proliferation of small and light weapons in the hands of the youth, many of whom had been armed by the politicians to fight their dirty battles in order to win elections at all cost. Thus, insecurity destabilizes the production of food and raw material for the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. It also contributes to the high rate of poverty and starvation and also leads to social disorganization amongst the families in the State among others. The study further showed that as a result of the high rate of insecurity in Benue State, the former administration launched the Benue State Amnesty programme on May 29th, 2015 at IBB square in order to recover these weapons from the youth and train them to engage in socially acceptable employment and consequently reduce crime in Benue State. These Amnesty proggammes were carried out to the end. Nevertheless, insecurity in Benue State has continued abated. The study therefore recommended that the task of crime prevention and control is not to be left in the hands of the government or the security agencies alone, as all hands must be on desk so as to achieve effective peace and order. Also, a comprehensive security strategy that greatly involves the stakeholders and citizens must be urgently put in place so as to effectively tackle armed robbery and other sundry crimes militating against the state security and development