Urbanisation and Crime in Nigeria

“This book on Urbanisation and Crime in Nigeria is the first comprehensive book
on the intersection between urbanisation and crime in Nigeria. It offers theoreti-
cal and empirical explanations of the factors within the urban environments in
Nigeria that shape and are shaped by crime. Scholars and students of criminology,
urban sociology, and social geography will benefit from reading the book.”
—Etannibi Alemika, Professor of Criminology and Sociology of Law,
University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria

“Urbanisation and Crime in Nigeria is a most timely and hugely important

work that chronicles how crime in emerging cities of fast-growing developing
nations can be better understood, managed and controlled. Incisive, deft and
innovative, this book intelligently pulls together diverse big data sources to criti-
cally expand scholarship in an innovative and accessible way. The authors illus-
trate how spatial thinking and analysis is essential to solving urban criminogenic
problems and generating insight for strategic and operational decision-making.
The book is a “must read” for leaders of cities across our world, urban and rural
planning practitioners, students, academics and everyone working towards a
safer and more secure human society.”
—Paul Olomolaiye, Professor of Construction Engineering and Management,
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Environment and
Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

“The Book—Urbanisation and Crime in Nigeria—is a bold attempt made by

the two authors to discuss the nexus between urbanisation and crime in the
country. By so doing, the authors are assuming that crimes can be understood
through the theory of ‘environmental determinism’ or better still, ‘architectural
determinism’, being a theory employed in urbanism, sociology and environ-
mental psychology, which claims that the built environment is the chief or even
sole determinant of social behaviour as postulated by many authors including
Jeremy Bentham, Adolf Behne, David Smith Hubert J. Gans, Ray Pahl, David
Correia and many others. The question is: can we say that urbanization or urban
development is the sole determinant of crime? While environmental determin-
ism theory as an explanation of social conduct is now most often referred to in
the literature as discredited, yet surprisingly it is still to be found as an argument
for urban renewal. In writing this new book, the authors are implicitly calling
for a revisit of the subject matter. They have aptly the trends of urbanisation in
Nigeria and several aspects of crime. They reviewed theories of crimes on which
the analyses presented in Chap. 6 on the contemporary configuration of crime
across Nigerian cities were based. While urbanisation as the sole cause of crime
is not proven, nevertheless, the causes of crime can be attributed to several socio-
economic factors which the authors dubbed ‘crime precipitators’ such as pov-
erty, poor parental upbringing, manipulation by politicians, unemployment,
failure of the criminal system, ineffective policing etc. Certainly, both authors
have opened up a new debate on the subject matter that is going to appeal to
readers and researchers.”
—Johnson Bade Falade, Professor of Geography and Regional Planning,
Former UN-Habitat Programme Manager for Nigeria and MD/CEO,
Gotosearch.Com Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria
Adegbola Ojo • Oluwole Ojewale

Urbanisation and
Crime in Nigeria
Adegbola Ojo Oluwole Ojewale
School of Geography CLEEN Foundation
University of Lincoln Abuja, Nigeria
Lincoln, UK

ISBN 978-3-030-19764-3    ISBN 978-3-030-19765-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19765-0

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

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To our families
 Foreword I

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this trail-blazing text on the link between

two fundamental influences on socio-economic development of many a
country—urbanisation and crime—influences that are particularly
important in a developing country such as Nigeria. As a Nigerian national
myself, I have noted the frenetic pace of urbanisation in the country and
pondered the consequences of graduates and youths in different parts of
the country abandoning the rural and semi-rural towns for the cities, and
thus creating a squeeze of very large populations into such cities as Lagos,
Abuja, Enugu, Kano and Port Harcourt.
Such a squeeze seems to me a plausible cause of crimes in those cities,
given the lack of adequate economic opportunities to occupy the minds
of city dwellers. It is, therefore, apposite to have to write a foreword to a
text that, arguably for the first time, provides in fairly forensic details a
multi-lensed understanding of urbanisation and crime in Nigeria.
Chapter 2 of the text discusses ‘Nigeria’s urbanisation history, trends,
drivers and implications’ in light of increasing urban poverty and crime.
Chapter 3 details the criminal justice system, pointing out such chal-
lenges of the system as ‘failure of governance and institutions to design
effective and flexible criminal justice policies’, which are suitable for
expanding urbanisation.
In Chap. 4, the authors critically examine the ‘applicability of tradi-
tional environmental criminological theories in developing country
vii
viii  Foreword I

c­ ontexts’. The focus of the chapter is the suitability of mainstream theo-

ries for explaining geospatial patterns of crime in developing countries.
These ideas provide clear guardrails for future research and interventions
towards alleviating the scourge of urban crime in Nigeria and similar
developing countries.
A novel framework for comparative analysis of intercity crime is pre-
sented in Chap. 5. The wide range of methods for conducting such analy-
sis will inform the fine-tuning of crime prevention strategies to the unique
geographical, economic and socio-cultural contexts of different Nigerian
cities and states in which they are emplaced.
The tenor of criminological theories and comparative analysis of inter-
city crime in Chaps. 4 and 5 are balanced out with a ‘contemporary con-
figuration of crime across Nigerian cities’, presented in Chap. 6. This
chapter literally brings research on urbanisation and crime to the cutting
edge, by using recent data to explore the geo-temporal manifestations of
urban crime in Nigeria, in a way that will inform the effectiveness of law
enforcement agencies in controlling urban crimes, more than cur-
rently obtains.
The above theoretical and practical insights into urbanisation and
crime in Nigeria are rounded out by a detailed discussion of crime pre-
cipitators in Chap. 7 and urban crime harm in Chap. 8. The results in
Chap. 7 integrate macro risk factors for urban crime, for example,
inequality and social polarisation, and a ‘deep-dive’ analysis of emerging
drivers of crime in Nigerian cities. This complements more effective mea-
surement of the impact of urban crime in Chap. 8 in providing a more
robust evidence base for better crime prevention policies and interven-
tions in Nigeria.
The text further examines ideas related to urban crime prevention and
control, including the need to expand economic opportunities to city
dwellers whilst limiting their access to small and light weapons.
Chapter 10 distils from the overall research results in the text salient
recommendations for evidence-based improvements in the theory,
research and practice of urbanisation and crime in Nigeria, linked to such
important perspectives as evidence-based policing, enhancement of pub-
lic confidence, mitigation of corruption, kidnapping, young people, the
   Foreword I  ix

urban poor, civil security platforms, digitisation and speedy prosecution

of criminal trials.
As seasoned researchers and writers, the rigour exemplified by Adegbola
and Oluwole is matched by an unflinching search to understand the
transformational and criminogenic consequences of urbanisation and to
explain these to the reader. In a nutshell, I find this text compelling in its
detailed treatment of the topic of urbanisation and crime in Nigeria and
similar developing countries in Africa, for example. It is a must read for
academics, students and professionals in related disciplines—for exam-
ple, human geography, criminology, national security and policing, soci-
ology and wider socio-economic development.

Patrick Oseloka Ezepue
African Higher Education and
Research Observatory
Sheffield, UK
Coal City University, Enugu, Nigeria
1 April 2019
 Foreword II

Urbanisation as an irreversible process of socio-economic transformation

has generated diverse consequences for most cities of the world especially
in the developing nations where these processes of urban change have not
been managed successfully. Not only have these manifested in the eco-
nomic constellations of these cities where informality holds sway but also
in the urban social fabrics where urbanisation has heightened the ‘ano-
mie’ principle and, by inference, emboldened individuals to commit
crime and or engage in various categories of criminal activities. As the
intensity of crime and criminality increases, the capacity and capability of
(urban) governments, and especially their governance structures, seem to
have fallen far behind the accelerated pace of criminal actors who seem to
have defied all traditional crime deterrent systems in this cyber age.
Accordingly, new methods of and for crime fighting and new deterrent
systems/measures must be evolved to capture the variegated nature of
contemporary crime structures and settings across all ages and city
morphologies.
This is why the advent of this book, Urbanisation and Crime in Nigeria,
is very timely. Not only is the title topical but its ten chapters intimately
capture the contemporary challenges of crime in Africa’s most populous
country, Nigeria. The book is a renewed attempt to present the known in
new understandable ways and present new models for a better conceptualisa-
tion of crime; this is presented in Chaps. 1 and 2. The criminal ­justice
xi
xii  Foreword II

s­ystem and a critical appraisal and application of the various crime and
criminology concepts and theories are contextualised in Chaps. 3 and 4.
After these refreshingly rendered introductory chapters, the rest of the
book takes a forensic look at the crime corridor of Nigeria and uses it as
a lens to explore the crime landscape in the country. For example, while
Chap. 5 develops a novel methodological framework for inter-city com-
parative crime analysis, it uses this framework to analyse and discuss
Nigerian cities in Chap. 6, where various urban crime morphologies and
their intensity are identified. It is thus possible to now know which cities
are more dangerous to live in than others. Following Chaps. 5 and 6, the
authors then unearth in Chap. 7 the social, economic and environmental
factors which precipitate crime and criminal tendencies in Nigerian cit-
ies. All of these discussions lead the authors to examine in Chap. 8 a criti-
cal but often least-considered area in criminal research, that of the costs
of criminal activities. The authors not only present a conceptual defini-
tion/interpretation of the cost of crime, they also evolve a model for such
analysis and use the model to configure the crime differentiation and
pattern of cost in the urban crime landscape in Nigeria. This is a very
novel approach to crime analyses and one which will spur other research-
ers to venture into this area of crime research.
A kaleidoscope of control and prevention of the known, the less-­
known and practised, and the unknown are presented in Chap. 9. It is a
chapter which calls for the cooperation of all actors—state and non-state,
community, non-governmental organisations, the evolvement of new
legislations and many more. The book concludes with a chapter on how
to protect our cities, which are the bastions of national economy, from
crime as the costs of these crimes are getting prohibitive by the day.
All the findings of this book are as relevant to all nations of the devel-
oping world as they are to Nigeria, about which this book is written. This
book is not only valuable for researchers and academics but to all practi-
tioners in all spheres of human endeavour because without safety and
security there cannot be progress and development.
The book has been written by seasoned academics and practitioners
who are not only versed in the concepts and theories of safety and secu-
rity but are also adept in crime and criminology discourses. They have
used their wealth of experience to interrogate the crime and criminal
   Foreword II  xiii

landscape of Nigeria and, by inference, the criminal landscape of cities in

the developing countries of the world. It is a ready handbook for all pro-
fessionals and practitioners.

Department of Urban and Babatunde Samuel Agbola

Regional Planning
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Nigeria
15 April 2019
 Preface and Acknowledgements

In parallel to human population growth, Nigeria is currently experienc-

ing an urbanisation fever. Over a period of 60 years (1950–2010), urban
agglomerations grew by a combined minimum average of 10  million
urban dwellers every decade. During the period between 2000 and 2010,
urban centres grew by more than 25 million additional urban dwellers.
There is no doubt that Nigeria is presently at an accelerated stage of its
urban transition, with more than half of its total population now residing
in urban agglomerations. Between 2018 and 2050, it is projected that
189 million more people would have been added to Nigeria’s urban pop-
ulation. Approximately seven in ten Nigerians will live in cities by 2050 in
search of what we described as the Nigerian urban dream—the pursuit of
a better life.
The Nigerian state has profited tremendously from rapid urbanisation.
Cities have emerged as the dominant engines of economic growth; the
main channels for extending and decentralising democratic values and
political power and the hubs of enterprise, creativity and diffusion of
innovation. Nevertheless, the implications of the country’s rapid urban-
isation are profound for urban dwellers, urban economies and the sus-
tainable development of what is considered by many as a fragile
democracy. Rapid urbanisation is happening in an unmanaged manner
in the midst of highly decaying social and public infrastructure. This has
massive implications for the provision of employment opportunities,
xv
xvi  Preface and Acknowledgements

food, housing, transport, water, social services, waste disposal services

and environmental protection. These challenges are further compounded
by poverty and inequality, weakening social capital bases and increasing
levels of social disorganisation. Despite the systemic weaknesses that
characterise Nigerian cites, they are under huge pressure to deliver the
goods of the urban dream for an ever-increasing and impatient number
of urban dwellers. These competing demands combine to make many
cities flashpoints for crime and violence.
Urban crime is arguably one of the most pressing social issues con-
fronting Nigeria, with its only serious rivals being human and economic
development. Leaders are increasingly coming to recognise the signifi-
cance of the problem. Crime constitutes a serious impediment to social
and economic development in Nigeria. In numerous urban centres, high
burdens of crime threaten human welfare, undermine the growth of
small, medium and large enterprises and hinder social development.
Furthermore, urban crime drives away foreign and domestic investment,
thereby impeding economic growth. Others have also observed that
crime nurtures the exodus of highly skilled labour force. In several other
ways, urban crime continues to stunt the growth and development of
Nigerian cities.
The fundamental aim of this book is to bring the subjects of urbanisa-
tion and crime together through a focused and engaging discussion of
key concepts, data, processes, analytical techniques and illustrative appli-
cations. This helps to ensure that students, scholars, practitioners, policy-
makers and volunteers can better understand the evolving dynamics of
both urbanisation and crime in Africa’s most populous country. In addi-
tion to this, through an evidence-based prism, the book aims to critically
engage the myths and debates about the factors that are actually causing
Nigeria’s rapid levels of contemporary urbanisation. The book points out
the importance of criminological theoretical frameworks, but it also chal-
lenges the assumptions and suggestions by some that traditional Euro-­
American theories of environmental criminology are directly applicable
in African urban contexts. A strong case for the development of context-­
relevant criminological theories is provided. The book explores the cur-
rent state of crime and its impact on various groups of people in Nigerian
cities, providing evidence of spatial and sequential patterns, as well as case
   Preface and Acknowledgements  xvii

studies of prevention and reduction mechanisms, and a robust body of

recommendations aimed at future-proofing urban centres and residents
from crime.
It is a delightful duty for authors to acknowledge and recognise those
persons and organisations that have helped in the research and prepara-
tion of a book. We are immensely grateful to the Department for
International Development (DFID). Without generous funding from
DFID to support the primary research project that underpins much of
the evidence gathered and documented in this book, our vision might
have remained a dream only. We are also indebted to ICF’s Dr Robin
Bloch and Nikolaos Papachristodoulou (formerly at ICF) for their invalu-
able support, advice and helpful edits. We acknowledge the support
received from other members of the team at ICF’s international develop-
ment division in London. We also extend our appreciation to Jon Parry
(Skills for Justice, Sheffield) for the helpful comments and suggestions
provided during the early part of our manuscript development. The
anonymous reviewers of our book proposal also helped to sharpen our
thoughts on several issues. We thank them as well.
The authors also appreciate the unalloyed commitment and support of
numerous Nigerian urban residents who participated in various research
consultations, members of professional associations as well as state and
non-state security actors who participated in the focused group discus-
sions and in-depth interviews conducted across cities and towns in
Nigeria for the purpose of this book. These include Nigeria Security and
Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), CLEEN Foundation, Nigeria Bar
Association, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria
Police Force, Private Security Companies (PSCs) and Vigilante Group of
Nigeria. Others are Community Policing Partnership Association of
Nigeria, Voluntary Policing Sector, Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN), Hisbah, Council of Ulama and National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW).
Finally, we are forever indebted to our spouses, Funmilola Ojo and
Yetunde Ojewale, and our children for their patience, endurance and
moral support throughout the period of intensive research and frenetic
writing. These are the people who add colour and meaning to our lives on
a daily basis.
xviii  Preface and Acknowledgements

All these wonderful people, groups and many others too numerous to
mention have contributed in one way or another to help make the book
better. The opinions expressed in the rest of the book are solely those of
the authors.

Lincoln, UK Adegbola Ojo

Abuja, Nigeria  Oluwole Ojewale
 Contents

1 Introduction  1

2 Nigeria’s Urbanisation History, Trends, Drivers and

Implications 13

3 The Criminal Justice System: Actors, Processes and

Policies 59

4 Applicability of Traditional Environmental

Criminological Theories in Developing Country Contexts 83

5 A Framework for Intercity Comparative Analysis of Crime113

6 Contemporary Configuration of Crime Across Nigerian

Cities135

7 Crime Precipitators171

8 Urban Crime Harm187

xix
xx Contents

9 Urban Crime Prevention and Control199

10 Conclusion223

Index239
 Abbreviations

ACJA Administration of Criminal Justice Act

ASR Average Spatial Resolution
BCDSC Business Development and Coaching Services Centres
BOYES Borno Youth Empowerment Scheme
CCTV Closed Circuit Television
CDD Centre for Democratic Development
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CID Criminal Investigation Department
CJTF Civilian Joint Task Force
CPA Criminal Procedure Act
CPC Criminal Procedure Code
CPTED Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
CRAVED Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable and
Disposable
DDR Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration
DFID Department for International Development
DMSP Defence Meteorological Satellite Program
DSS Department of State Services
EFCC Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
FCT Federal Capital Territory
FRSC Federal Road Safety Corps
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographic Information Systems

xxi
xxii Abbreviations

GPW Gridded Population of the World

GRUMP Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project
HEI Higher Education Institutions
ICT Information and Communications Technologies
IDP Internally Displaced Persons
IDS Institute for Development Studies
IHDI Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index
IJR Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
JOR Joint Operations Room
LEI Life Expectancy Index
LGA Local Government Areas
LNSC Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps
MDA Ministries, Departments and Agencies
MEND Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
MERIS Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
NAPTIP National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
NBS National Bureau of Statistics
NCE Nigeria Certificate in Education
NCGIA National Centre for Geographic Information Analysis
NCVS National Crime Victimisation Survey
NDLEA National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NPC National Populations Commission
NPF Nigeria Police Force
NSC Neighbourhood Safety Corps
NSCDC Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
NUCHI Northern Urban Crime Harm Index
NYSC National Youth Service Corps
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OPC O’odua People’s Congress
PGC Private Guard Companies
PSC Private Security Companies
PSG Private Security Guards
SALWs Small Arms and Light Weapons
SCP Situational Crime Prevention
SSA Sub-Saharan Africa
SSS State Security Service
SUCHI Southern Urban Crime Harm Index
  Abbreviations  xxiii

SWAC Sahel and West Africa Club

UCHI Urban Crime Harm Index
UN United Nation
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
URN Urbanisation Research Nigeria
VIVA Value, Inertia, Visibility and Access
WHO World Health Organisation
YPG Yobe Peace Group
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Political and administrative geography of Nigeria 17

Fig. 2.2 Percentage shares and projected urban and rural population in
Nigeria (1950–2025) 20
Fig. 2.3 Levels of urbanisation in Nigeria and West Africa, 1950–2050 25
Fig. 2.4 Spatial distribution of urban agglomerations in Nigeria
(1950–2010)27
Fig. 2.5 Trajectory of shares of urban agglomerations by geopolitical
zones (1950–2010) 32
Fig. 2.6 Expansion of urban frontiers in (a) Calabar (1990–2010) and
(b) Zaria (1990–2010) 34
Fig. 2.7 Urban system of Western Africa (2010) and innovation
(2009/2010)42
Fig. 4.1 Characteristics of good urban criminological theories 86
Fig. 4.2 The crime analysis triangle 96
Fig. 5.1 Temporal patterns of crime 127
Fig. 5.2 The social ecological model 129
Fig. 6.1 Estimated prevalence rates of urban crime (2005–2011) 143
Fig. 6.2 Relationship between fear of crime and estimated prevalence of
crime (2005–2011) 145
Fig. 6.3 Specialisation of murder (2005–2011) 146
Fig. 6.4 Specialisation of robbery (2005–2011) 147
Fig. 6.5 Specialisation of kidnapping (2005–2011) 149
Fig. 6.6 Specialisation of physical assault (2005–2011) 150

xxv
xxvi  List of Figures

Fig. 6.7 Specialisation of domestic violence (2005–2011) 151

Fig. 6.8 Trends in urban violent crimes 152
Fig. 6.9 Specialisation of vehicle theft (2005–2011) 155
Fig. 6.10 Specialisation of motorcycle theft (2005–2011) 156
Fig. 6.11 Specialisation of mobile phone theft (2005–2011) 157
Fig. 6.12 Specialisation of burglary (2005–2011) 158
Fig. 6.13 Specialisation of theft of money (2005–2011) 159
Fig. 6.14 Specialisation of theft from car (2005–2011) 160
Fig. 6.15 Trends in urban property crimes 161
Fig. 6.16 Specialisation of rape (2005–2011) 164
Fig. 6.17 Specialisation of attempted rape (2005–2011) 165
Fig. 6.18 Trends in urban serious sexual offences 165
Fig. 7.1 City-level correlations of robbery prevalence versus polarisation
risk factors in Nigeria 173
Fig. 8.1 Relationship between harm of crime and estimated prevalence
of crime in northern Nigeria cities (2005–2011) 195
Fig. 8.2 Relationship between harm of crime and estimated prevalence
of crime in southern Nigeria cities (2005–2011) 195
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Selected definitions of urban settlements across Africa 14

Table 2.2 Urban population to urban agglomeration ratio (thousands) 33
Table 2.3 Share of migrants in an urban or rural place of residence
(2010)38
Table 3.1 Selected innovative provisions of the Administration of
Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 73
Table 3.2 Passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 75
Table 4.1 Families of major criminological theories 89
Table 4.2 Hotspot places and causal mechanisms 98
Table 5.1 Calculation of crime incidence rate 120
Table 5.2 Interpreting results of the location quotient analysis 126
Table 6.1 Estimated prevalence rates of crime by settlement hierarchy
(2005–2011)143
Table 6.2 Crime concentration versus crime prevalence rate in Nigerian
cities (2005–2011) 144
Table 6.3 Average daily share (%) of urban murders (2005–2011) 152
Table 6.4 Average daily share (%) of urban robberies (2005–2011) 153
Table 6.5 Average daily share (%) of urban kidnappings (2005–2011) 153
Table 6.6 Average daily share (%) of urban physical assaults
(2005–2011)154
Table 6.7 Average daily share (%) of urban vehicle thefts (2005–2011) 162
Table 6.8 Average daily share (%) of motorcycle thefts (2005–2011) 162
Table 6.9 Average daily share (%) of mobile phone thefts (2005–2011) 163

xxvii
xxviii  List of Tables

Table 6.10 Average daily share (%) of rapes (2005–2011) 166

Table 8.1 Differences in general guidelines for punishing criminal
offences in Nigeria 191
Table 8.2 Weights used to construct the NUCHI and SUCHI 193