Criminal Gangs in Urban Areas: A Threat to Democratic Governance in Nigeria

Abstract

Criminal gangs have been the major issue that confronts democratic governance. These gangs have been considered as a source of violence and insecurity at the urban areas and the society at large. For any meaningful development to take place, the society must be crime free. This will pave way for development. Many urban cities are turned into cities of criminal gangs where people are afraid of carrying out their legitimate functions based on the activities of these hoodlums. The insecurity posed by these groups of people make the Urban cites unsafe, as their activities have reached unpreceded levels in many cities in the developing word. Today more than 50% of the world population lives in the cities, and developing countries account for over 90%.  This research work has adopted role theory as its theoretical framework in addressing this issue.

Keywords: Criminal gangs and Democratic governance