The book explores the pressing problem of rural violence in contemporary Nigeria by assessing the changing patterns of conflict and response across the country. Rural violence in Nigeria is becoming an increasingly pressing concern, with cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and farmer-herder conflicts putting immense pressure on the state’s institutional preparedness and the response capacity of the government, military and other security agencies. Drawing from the expertise of a wide range of African development, governance and security researchers and practitioners, this book assesses the severity of the current problem of rural violence, and provides a critical analysis of the various national and state responses to rural violence in Nigeria. Ultimately, the book aims to provide suggestions for restoring peace, security and development in Nigeria. This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and administrators across Political Science, Security Studies, Rural Studies, and Regional Studies in Africa.

Policing Criminality and Insurgency in Africa: Perspectives on Changing Wave of Law Enforcement provides critical insights into the trends and patterns of crime and insurgency in contemporary African society. In Africa criminals and insurgents are becoming more resourceful, smart, and connected, as criminal syndicates are increasingly deploying modern technologies to commit crimes in ways and manners that are profoundly daring, and on a transnational and global scale. Meanwhile, the capacity of local, state, and security forces to stem the tide of crimes and insurgencies is decimated by dwindling resources on the part of the state due to official corruption, down-sizing of public institutions and a fierce competition for resources between security and other developmental agencies. In this volume, the contributors, who are expert academics in policing and security in Africa as well as security practitioners, provide detailed explanations of the new wave of crime, characterized by cyber insecurity, terror financing, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and transnational networking among criminal syndicates. The volume forensically explores how these complex waves and emerging trends of criminality and insurgency impact on the socio-economic and political development of Africa. Editors, Usman A. Tar and Dawud Muhammad Dawud highlight how these factors affect and shape policing and law enforcement in an era of "smart crimes" and insurgency within the continent.

This book critically explores the emerging architecture of regional security in Africa with particular reference to counterterrorism and counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin Region. In New Architecture of Regional Security in Africa, the contributors--scholars, policy-makers, and defense/security practitioners from both within and outside Africa--examine the evolution, dynamics, and working mechanisms for peace and security or emerging regional security architecture for regional security in the region. The volume will be essential reading for all academics, scholars, and researchers in academia and NGOs with interests in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism related issues in the Lake Chad Basin region. Additionally, the volume will also be useful for students of counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, small wars, terrorism and strategic studies, and defense and security studies. It will also provide invaluable reference material for policy practitioners working on the activities in the contemporary operating environment within the Lake Chad Basin region. This book offers innovative perspectives on the emerging architecture for regional security in Africa, with a focus on how member states of the Lake Chad Basin Commission are coping with the challenges of terrorism and insurgency. Edited by Usman A. Tar and Bashir Bala, the volume is the first to critically document regional security in the Lake Chad Basin.