NATIONAL SECURITY AND CRIME IN ERA OF COVID-19 IN NIGERIAN MAJOR CITIES: BEYOND A LOCKDOWN

Abstract

Security is the responsibility of every citizen of every country but security agencies are established by law to handle the security affairs of the country. Security becomes a problem and very precarious if an unplanned and unexpected threat occurs when there are no laid down laws to tackle them. When such events occur in a country like Nigeria without adequate procedures put in place to checkmate it, the nation suffers from different criminal activities which pose serious security issues. Nigeria is a nation populated with over 200 million residents with different multi-religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds affected by the ongoing global pandemic known as the coronavirus. COVID-19 as abbreviated by World Health Organization (WHO) is a highly infectious disease with a high mortality rate ravaging the population of the country of which the government-mandated a lockdown in the country to slow the spread of the disease. The pandemic and forced dependence on nothing due to the lockdown further exacerbated people’s already fragile egos and pushed them into an abyss of despair. Analysis of secondary data on the effect of the virus due to forced lockdown by the government showed that there was a considerable spike in crimes committed by both citizens and security operatives within major cities. The increase in such crimes like armed robbery, extrajudicial killings, and kidnapping, was propelled by a lack of governmental intervention to the plight of the majority of citizens of the country. The resultant effect was that it created a strain on the national security of the country. This work recommended for increased governmental intervention both for citizens and security operatives in the country. Also to implement relevant policies geared towards the future occurrence of a pandemic and checkmate the activities of security personnel.