Urban Crime Incidence and Prevention Mechanisms in Kano Municipal Area Council

Abstract

This paper established the relationship between crime incidence and residential neighbourhood attributes towards improving safety and security in Kano Municipal Local Government Area (KMLGA). Records of crime incidences for 2017-2018 were collected from Kano Police Commission for the study together with a stratified sampling of 382 heads of households as respondents in the study area housing 13 wards in the growing metropolis of Kano. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse the data obtained that revealed assault crime as the most prevalent (32%) followed by theft (16.6%), and drug-related crimes (15.3%). The neighbourhoods most prone to crime is Sharada (19.8%), Tudun Wazirchi (9.2%) and Sheshe (8.5%); while Zaitawa is the least with only 5.5% of recorded crime in the burgeoning city. Multiple regression results for sexual offences and crimes revealed that poor lighting has the strongest Coefficient of determination (0.468) followed by dead-end-streets (0.422), and hence the strongest unique predictors that explain sexual crimes in the study area. Findings from multiple regression analysis for assault crime revealed that vacant lot/building has the strongest coefficient of determination of 0.140 and for a theft crime, dead-ends-street has the strongest (0.360) as unique predictors that explained assault and theft crimes when the variance is explained by other predictors in the model was controlled. It is therefore recommended that there should be improvement programmes such as the provision for street lighting, pathway expansions, efficient waste removal, routine maintenance and repair of street lighting equipment in areas of high crime. The city should avoid the abandonment of large building structures like the industrial estates of Sharada – having the highest crime rate. These measures can also assist in the fight against the growing trend of urban crime in this most populous metropolis in the savannah regions of sub-Saharan Africa.