Crime control in Nigeria: how relevant is remittance inflow?

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to draw on extant literature to ascertain the relevance of remittance receipts in improving the level of crime control in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study uses time series data spanning for a period of 1986–2017. It adopts dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS), vector auto regression impulse response function, variance decomposition and Toda and Yamamoto causality approach to analyse the data. Findings The following findings are established: DOLS shows that remittance receipt has negative and significant impact on crime rate in Nigeria. The impulse response function indicates that a positive shock to the remittance inflows reduces the level of crime in Nigeria. Moreover, a positive shock to the crime rate decreases the remittance. This implies that both variables respond to each other. Toda and Yamamoto causality approach shows that there is unidirectional causality moving from remittance inflow to criminal activities in Nigeria. These results persist after considering other institutional variables. These findings support the previous evidences on remittances-crime nexus and as well support the opportunity cost theory of crime. Originality/value Apart from being the first study in African region that evaluates the relevance of remittances in crime control, it also analyses the dynamics between crime rate and remittance receipts using time series econometrics which makes the study to be unique. The study shows that remittances can be used as part of toolkits for controlling criminal activities in Nigeria.

Remittances and homicides in Jamaica

“…Second, we find that there is bidirectional causality between remittances and homicides in the short run. Out findings are different from those of Brito et al (2014), Ajide (2021) and others. They found that remittances are likely to reduce crime rates.…”

“…It would be important to control for these variables so that one can tease out statistically the relationship between remittances and homicides that is not confounded by other influences. For practical and data availability considerations, we have to settle on three control variables that have been used in the literature (Brito et al , 2014; Coon, 2015; Mahesh, 2020; and Ajide, 2021). These variables are GDPPC, UR and consumer price index (CPI).…”

“…Kassem et al (2019) claimed, more conclusively, that remittances exhibited a negative relationship with crime rates in Pakistan from 1984 to 2017. Recently, Ajide (2021) used Nigerian data from 1986 to 2017 and applied the impulse response functions (IRFs) and causality techniques, Ajide (2021) found that a positive shock to remittances was associated with a negative movement of crime rate, and vice versa. Further, there was evidence of unidirectional causality running from remittances to crime in Nigeria.…”

“…In Jamaica, and in several other beneficiary countries, remittances have been shown to increase the stream of household’s income, resulting in, among other things, increased consumption, investment, and the educational attainment of the recipient household, and thereby increased economic growth (Das et al , 2021; Das, McFarlane and Jung, 2019; Stephenson and Wilsker, 2016; Beuermann et al , 2016). Therefore, it has been concluded, on the one hand that remittances can improve the quality of life of their recipients, thus increasing the opportunity cost of crime, and subsequently steer individuals away from a life of crime (Ajide, 2021). Puzzlingly, however, the remittance-heavy economy of Jamaica is also a hotbed for criminal activities, which have led to an undesirable increase in the country's homicide rate.…”

The Impact of Crime against a Person on Domestic Investment in Dubai

“…The strategy of the Dubai Police is based on preventing and reducing crime by implementing several crime-fighting initiatives that harness the power of artificial intelligence and advanced technology to bolster public safety and security. These initiatives encompass diverse programs, such as Dubai Police's Smart Homes Transformation Plan 2018-2021(Dubai Police, Open Data 2023, which aimed to entirely convert residences in the Emirate of Dubai into smart homes, enabling homeowners to monitor their homes remotely with a 100% success rate. The International Crime-Fighting Program is designed to adopt a professional approach to tracking criminal activities worldwide, strengthening partnerships in crime detection, and apprehending international criminal organizations.…”