Summary
p. 23-26
Texte intégral
1From the data collected, the ’Yan Daba, ’Yan Banga and ’Yan Daukar Amarya appear to operate independendy of each other. The ’Yan Daba were originally the strong arm behind various political parties, the ban on party politics and the subsequent loss of income has led them into all types of illegal activities. The ’Yan Banga, while initially assisting law enforcement agencies in apprehending criminals, has turned into a lawless force of bandits. The ’Yan Daukar Amarya do not appear to operate out of economic deprivation; their motivation is rape.
2The activities of these three groups are mainly sited in Kano. An old cosmopolitan center of learning and commerce, Kano is not only the second largest city in West Africa, it was also an important terminus of the trans-Saharan trade. The ancient city of Kano dealt principally in slaves, hides, groundnuts, gum arabic and traditional indigo-dyed cloth. A popular saying25 describes Kano as tumbin giwa, the stomach of an elephant, i.e., Kano is very large and you can find anything there. This is equally described by a saying in Hausa, Kano kasan Kanawa, ko da mai ka zo an fi ka.26
3It is no wonder that Kano was the starting point of the activities of the ’Yan Daba, ’Yan Banga and ’Yan Daukar Amarya. Obateru27 claims that the level of the productivity of a city largely determines its scale of violence. Urban violence is less characteristic of cities with a sound economic base. This is explained by the fact that planned cities function more efficiently and are consequently more economically productive. Such cities have higher living standards and relatively low levels of crime and violence.
4The reasons which have led to the formation of groups like the ’Yan Daba, ’Yan Banga and the ’Yan Daukar Amarya, are aptly described by Obateru28 and include the following:
- urban poverty
- economic frustration, resulting from widespread unemployment among young people, particularly school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions
- a huge income gap between the rich and the poor, and the feeling by the poor that the rich become richer at their expense
- polarization of residents along economic, educational and cultural lines
- grossly inadequate, if not complete lack of public utilities, especially water and electricity supplies
- grossly inadequate social infrastructures, particularly for education, health and outdoor recreation
- social, ethnic and racial discrimination and inequality
- political disagreement and crisis
- government denial of fundamental human rights
- inequality of citizens before the law
- refusal of successive governments to respect and protect the independence of the judiciary
- adoption and influence of violent foreign culture especially from posters, television and films
5Albert,29 in a four point analysis confirms Obatern’s conclusions. Citing urban crowding as one of the causes of violence in Africa, Albert avers that, ‘this rapid rate of urban agglomeration was caused by the superior employment, education, healthcare and other attractions of the urban environment.’ The negative consequences of this is that, ‘the African urbanization process is not matched by industrialization. Therefore, there is not sufficient industrial work for the ever increasing number of rural-urban migrants.’
6Urban hypertrophy leads to the second cause of urban violence – domestic violence. Citing authorities, Albert points to the fact that:
... children living in violent homes are themselves more likely to become agents of violence as they grow up... child battering has a multiplier effect on the total scale of violence in any society.
.... The development of delinquent urban gangs can also be explained from the perspective of inadequate parental guidance.
7Though there are no statistics to back this assertion, Kano city is well known to have a large number of children engaged in one form of begging or the other. The most common are the almajirai (Quranic pupils). An enabling factor of the gangs in Kano is the ready supply of manpower, through the almajirai, who are largely destitute and end up in these gangs out of desperation.
8Urban culture shock – the diverse mix of ethnic, occupational, social and religious values; the quality of urban management; and the conspiratorial thesis, i.e., a high degree of injustice, are other factors responsible for urban violence in the major African cities (Albert 1994). Kano city is a classic example.
Notes de bas de page
25 A. Jika, Kano’s rainbow mood. The Triumph Newspaper. 8 July 1995, 8.
26 Kano kasan Kanawa, ko da me ka zo, am fi ka, means Kano land of the Kano people, is without equal.
27 I. O. Obateru, Planning the city to mitigate urban violence. Urban Management and Urban Violence in Africa. Vol. 1, IFRA, Ibadan, 1994, 29-30.
28 Ibid, 30.
29 Albert, op. cit., 12.
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