THE MENACE OF KIDNAPPING AND THE COPING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY FEMALE HEADED RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN BATSARI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigates the scourge of kidnapping and the coping strategies adopted by rural female headed households to survive the menace. It looks at the causes of kidnapping, the forms it takes and its effects on rural women. The study examines the coping strategies adopted by rural female headed households to survive the difficulties of kidnapping. Data for the study was collected using secondary sources such as journals, reviews, gazettes, books amongst others. It was established that the activities of kidnappers have negatively affected the livelihood means of female headed households in the study area. They therefore adopt various strategies to survive. It was therefore recommended that both the federal, state and local authorities should focus on reducing tensions between herders and farmers that have led to destruction of lives of the people. One way they could do this is by expediting implementation of the national livestock plan. They should also support dialogue between the Hausa and Fulani, the region’s two communities most closely tied to farming and herding, respectively. In addition, they need to improve security and law enforcement in the region in order to curb criminality and bolster its ability to protect citizens, as well as to step up efforts at addressing environmental and economic issues underlying the violence. In addition, Government should give conditional grants to
widows generally and rural female headed households in particular whose husbands were lost as a result of banditry in order to alleviate their plight and help them cope better.