CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Migration is regarded as the movement of person(s) from one ecological region to another region, which might be on temporary or permanent origin [Adewale 2005]. A group of persons migrate based on the existing conditions and the motives for it differs from one person to another depending on the circumstances that brought about the decision to migrate. Migration is a selective process affecting individuals or families/households with certain economic, social, educational and demographic characteristics. The movement of people from rural to urban areas is a common episode in Northwest Nigeria masterminded by the insecurity issues prevalent in this areas.
The movement sometimes poses some calamities in the rural as well as in the urban areas even though; there are benefits derivable from it. In most rural areas, the impact of rural-urban migration was a rapid deterioration of the rural economy leading to chronic poverty and food insecurity [Mini S.E 2003].These arise mainly due to excessive drain of youth from the rural population hence leaving only the older, women and aged members to constitute the labour force of the rural area. Migration to urban areas is placing increasing pressure on local government's ability to respond to social service needs of urban populations.
Banditry means occurrence or prevalence of armed robbery or violent crimes. It involves the use of force, or threat to that effect, to intimidate a person with the intent to rob, rape or kill. Banditry is a crime against persons. It has been a common genre of crime, as well as cause violence in contemporary societies (Nigeria Watch, 2011). The prevalence of banditry in Nigeria appears to have been high and rising over the years.Nigeria’s Northwest is gradually becoming another major regional theatre of violence, much like the Northeast where Boko Haram terrorists have wreaked havoc in the past ten years. A problem, which initially appeared as localized disputes between herders and farmers over access to land, has morphed into an intractable crisis posing a major threat to national and regional security. The level of rural banditry keeps escalating from 2014 till date attracting a lot of attention, while assuming increased political undertones are master minders to this yet its of great implication to the survival of common man and at large hence the reason why most rural settlers leave their home and migrate to urban areas in the bid secure their their lives. Banditry refers to armed violence driven principally by the criminal intent to steal and plunder. It is motivated by the quest for economic accumulation. The victims are individuals and communities with material valuables or most cases average people displaced from their home and are forced to migrate.
Banditry in the northwestern states of Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina has reached alarming heights in recent years. Bandits terrorize villages with impunity. They have actually settled in the states like Ogun in form of herdsmen, Kaduna and Kastina State respectively, setting up fortified enclaves in the hinterland and on the frontiers, from where they plot and carry out their operations on rural community settlers.