Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi

BANDITRY AND HUMAN SECURITY: IMPLICATIONS ON MENTAL HEALTH

Prof. Femi Rufus Tinuola, Helen Anthony Ekpe & Blessing Ose Oligbi

Abstract

Transnational organized crime such as arms smuggling have facilitated the lethality, terror and audacity which banditry an organized violent crime is perpetrated. Banditry events pose a serious threat to human security especially in the areas of personal, economic, food and health security. Stress from conflicts, terrorism, economic hardship, increasing poverty and unemployment as well as violent crimes among other stressors worsen the low level of mental health in Nigeria. Scholarly attentions have majorly focused on the implications of banditry on socio-economic development, education and food security with little attention on mental health. This paper, examined the impact of banditry on mental health based on relevant related literature while life change event perspective served as the theoretical framework of the study. The paper highlights that banditry events such as loss of livelihood, rape, kidnapping and internal displacement of people, adversely affects the mental health of victims. Varying degrees of mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress are experienced by victims with short or long term consequences depending on the level of severity of events as well as the level of victim's resilience. It is concluded that, banditry is a life change event that impact negatively on the mental health of individuals. It is recommended that, government intensify ongoing efforts to address banditry and adequate psychosocial help be provided continually by professionals, traditional and religious leaders to enable victims cope effectively.

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