Effects Of Cattle Rustling On Socio-Economic And Political Development Of Nigeria
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Effects Of Cattle Rustling On Socio-Economic And Political Development Of Nigeria
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background for the Study
Cattle rustling has recently become a serious internal security threat in Nigeria, with the northern region at the forefront. There are several reports of robbers with automatic guns invading herders’ settlements and farms with the intention of killing people and pillaging animals (Yusuf, 2015).
According to Adeniyi (2015), between October 2013 and March 2014, almost 7,000 animals were stolen from commercial livestock farms and traditional herders in Northern Nigeria.
According to Tauna (2016), 30,000 livestock were recovered from rustlers within a few months after launching a joint military operation in Katsina State.
In most cases, the rustlers kill and maim their herders, as well as rape the women, before dispossessing of them for their cattle. In certain circumstances, they also kidnap girls or women (Adeniyi, 2015).
Cattle rustling has evolved over time into a system of organised crime with incredible criminal expertise and efficiency. Contemporary cattle rustlers use contemporary weapons and operate through trans-locational and trans-national syndication.
The core view of modern cattle rustling is that it is a type of livelihood crime driven by both the illegal purpose to expropriate grazing cattle for meat or sale (Manyok, 2017).
As a result, cattle rustling has been primarily motivated by the desire for primitive accumulation of money and untaxed wealth. In this sense, cattle rustling is a typical example of organised crime. Cheserek (2017) defines organised crime as a criminal operation with discernible hierarchical social networking and syndication.
Cattle rustling affects virtually all of Nigeria’s northern states. Cattle rustling occurs in eight of Plateau State’s 17 local government areas (Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, Shendam, Jos South, Riyom, Langtang North, and Langtang South) (Yusufu, 2014).
According to Ishaya and Abaje (2015), various villages in the areas bordering the four Northern States of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, and Niger have been targeted by cattle rustlers who openly terrorise vulnerable herders and cow farmers.
Although cattle rustling has been common in Northern Nigeria’s rural areas, it not only causes major security difficulties at the specific locations of conflict, but it also threatens to spread beyond the agricultural sector and Northern Nigeria.
Rustling has been occurring in Kaduna State, namely in the Giwa Local Government Area, since roughly 2004, when it began weakly. It escalated until November 2004, when the rustlers decided to attack a town called Dogon Dawa, killing almost 20 people (Yusufu, 2014).
These rustlers are a mix of nationalities, including Fulani, and they continue to endanger human security, socioeconomic development, and political development in rural areas across Giwa Local Government Area, Kaduna State, and Northern Nigeria (Ishaya and Abaje, 2015).
Rustling operations have posed a significant danger to public safety and security in Nigeria. It has resulted in fatalities, human injuries, population displacements, and a decrease in the quantity of cattle. This condition has negative consequences for the herding communities’ collective well-being.
It fosters a sense of unease, which has the potential to impede the productivity of the herding enterprise. The loss of livestock to rustlers depletes household income and communal resources in the herding community.
This has clear ramifications for the herding venture’s long-term output. This could eventually lead to a decline in Nigeria’s overall supply of organic protein and dairy.
What’s more concerning and dangerous is the link between livestock rustling and spiral violence in some parts of Northern Nigeria. Cattle rustlers’ constant attacks on herding tribes tend to put them at odds with their ecological neighbours, the settled native farmers. In certain cases, herders unfairly accuse farmers of being the perpetrators and masterminds of cattle robberies.
The strategic implication of this development is that it has the potential to increase the instrumental value and utility of cattle rustling to the point where its resolution would be as difficult as terrorism itself.
The idea is that if cattle rustling becomes an important tool for terrorist design, it will undoubtedly persist as long as terrorism prevails (Bashir, 2017).
In other parts of Africa, the literature on cattle rustling and the violent conflict it causes has steadily increased (Kaimba, 2011; Nganga 2012, Greiner 2013). In Nigeria, however, aside from research focussing on clashes between herders and farming communities (Okoli and Atelhe 2014; Olaniyan and Okeke-Uzodike 2015), predatory cattle rustling has received insufficient academic attention.
The limited attempts to address this issue, while admirable, suffer either from being primarily descriptive (Kwaja 2014) or from drawing mostly on the East African experience (Okoli and Okpaleke 2014).
Nonetheless, as elsewhere, the current outbreak of violence and the disastrous consequences associated with cattle rustling begs for attention. The purpose of this study is to better understand the contours, trends, and trajectory of cattle rustling in Giwa Local Government Area, as well as its effects on socioeconomic and political development and how the state has responded to the danger.
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem
Terrorism, insurgency, cattle rustling, kidnappings, arm robbery, and ethnic conflicts, among other things, are posing a severe threat to citizens’ lives and property.
The high degree of cattle rustling in Northern Nigeria by rustlers has heightened anxiety among the public and the world community, wreaking havoc on the economy, and the enmity has transcended religious or political boundaries.
Cattle rustling has developed as a significant security concern in Nigeria. As a criminal enterprise, it has ramifications for the socioeconomic, political, cultural, and psychological aspects of society.
At the economic level, it poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of herders and those who rely on cows for sustenance. At the sociopolitical level, rustlers’ actions have resulted in death, loss, and destruction of life and property, disrupting peace and security.
Cattle rustling has posed a significant threat to public safety and security in the Giwa Local Government Area. It has resulted in fatalities, population displacement, and a reduction in livestock numbers.
It produces a sense of fear and leads to the loss of cattle to rustlers; this act appears to devolve into terror-style mass raids on innocent communities, including women and children.
Cattle rustling has had a major and negative impact on the socioeconomic and political growth of Giwa Local Government Area. This has a negative impact on Kaduna State’s security, stability, and integration.
1.3 Research Questions.
In light of the assertions of the research problem, the study proposed the following questions:
1. What were the causes of livestock rustling in Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area from 2015 to 2017?
2. What impact did cattle rustling have on the socioeconomic and political growth of Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area from 2015 to 2017?
3. How did the government and community address the issue of cattle rustling in Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area between 2015 and 2017?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The study’s aims are:
1. To determine the causes of livestock rustling in the Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2017.
2. To investigate the impact of cattle rustling on socioeconomic and political growth in Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area from 2015 to 2017.
3. Identify the government and community initiatives to combat livestock rustling in Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area from 2015 to 2017.
1. 5 Study Assumptions
1. Between 2015 and 2017, poverty and unemployment fuelled livestock rustling in Kaduna State’s Giwa Local Government Area.
2. Cattle rustling contributed to instability in the Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State between 2015 and 2017.
3. Between 2015 and 2017, cattle rustling had an impact on the socioeconomic and political growth of the Giwa Local Government Area in Kaduna State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The available literature has not been able to specifically address the core causes of cattle rustling in Nigeria in order to nip it in the bud for the benefit of Northern Nigeria and the country as a whole.
Cattle rustling has become a major source of concern, not only because of its effects on herd size and the suffering it causes, but also because it threatens the survival of state institutions in the areas where it occurs.
While cattle rustling remains primarily a rural-sector activity in which the capacity of state institutions to effectively mediate competing demands is threatened, weak, or non-existent, the introduction of modern destructive weapons and extreme violence marks a shift from mere cattle raiding to a ruthless, weaponised, highly organised, profit-oriented, trans-locational and transnational consortium.
As a result, this study would inform the government and the broader public about the level of damage caused by cattle rustling activities, as well as their impact on security and socioeconomic development.
The outcomes of this study contribute to the current literature on cattle rustling and crime management. It exposes the citizen’s plight at the hands of cattle rustlers, which may be relevant to policymakers, particularly those concerned with the security and social well-being of citizens in a given political arena.
Keeping in mind that it is the state’s job to collect taxes from residents, hire and own weapons of war, and use them to protect its people.
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