COPING STRATEGIES OF TRADERS OF SPECIALIZED MARKETS WITH URBAN TERRORISM IN KANO METROPOLIS
ABSTRACT
Coping Strategies of Traders of Specialized Markets with Urban Terrorism in Kano Metropolis is an empirical study carried out to study how traders in the specialized markets of Kano metropolis coped with the devastating effects of urban terrorism. Thus, the study focused on identification of factors predisposing Kano to urban terrorism by describing the physical manifestations of terrorism and examining their effects on specialized markets. This was done in order to determine  the  coping  strategies  adopted  by  the  traders  in  specialized  markets  of  Kano metropolis. Cogent analysis and understanding of the problem under study was facilitated through the adoption of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) which explained the behaviour of traders during and after the terrorist attacks. Furthermore, the study was carried out in specialized markets of Kano metropolis. Kwari, Abubakar Rimi and Farm Centre markets were purposively selected from which a sample size of 400 was drawn using cluster and simple random sampling techniques. The findings of the study revealed that commercial value  of  urban  Kano  manifested  in  its  large  markets,  failure  of  government  to  tackle inequalities and unemployment which breeds poverty; religious extremism occasioned by inciting sermons by some Muslim clerics were some of the factors making urban Kano vulnerable to urban terrorism. The research equally found that Kwari and Farm center markets were some of the locations mostly affected. On the effects of terrorist violence on the commercial development of specialized markets of urban Kano, the study identified decline in economic indices such as low customers’ patronage, fall in disposable income, exodus of businesses from Kano and other social consequences which include exacerbation of feelings of mistrust, enmity among people of different ethno-religious background. The research also revealed that the achievement recorded by the military in the north east of dispersing Boko Haram terrorists has engendered more fear on the minds of traders in urban Kano due to the belief that the terrorists have now infiltrated major cities of the North of which Kano was not an exception. On the coping strategies adopted by the traders, the study revealed that the traders have adopted coping strategies in line with their challenges. In their effort to manage their fears, the traders avoided all perceived terrorist risk areas which include basically all crowded places. With regard to coping strategies with their businesses, while majority of the traders  engaged  and  sought  protection  through  prayers  seeking  God’s  protection  and solution to their plight, others divested their sources of income, some merged their shops, and some temporarily stopped restocking their shops. The research recommended a long term plan of architectural re-design of urban markets by decentralizing the markets in order to discourage rational terrorists from attack and reduce casualties in case of attacks. However, in a short term, a rapid response security and emergency management teams should be stationed permanently at the markets and be fully equipped and carefully prepared for any event of attacks so as to avert or reduce damages suffered by the traders.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background to the Study
The vulnerabilities to terrorism of urban markets and how to tackle them have become key issues of global concern particularly after the September 11, 2001 (hence forth 9/11) World Trade Centre’s attacks, which claimed thousands of innocent lives most of them Americans. Long before the terrorist attacks on World Trade Centre in New York City and the Pentagon in  2001,  business  activities  in  cities  had  become  venues  for  the  occurrence  of  terrorist violence. Between 1993 and 2000, there were more than 500 terrorist incidents in cities around the world (Savitch and Ardashev, 2001).
The  Twin  Towers’  attacks  in  New  York  City  were  the  most  notorious  instances  of contemporary urban terrorism which claimed thousands of lives and destroyed an inestimable amount of property. Previously, it had been possible to believe that there were limits beyond which even terrorists would not go, but after the 9/11 attacks, it was evident that terrorists could go to any length to accomplish their goals. Few years after the 9/11 attacks, other prominent cities in the world were also attacked-attacks that resulted in massive casualties. For instance, in 2004 bombs were detonated on packed commuter trains in Madrid, killing
191 and injuring over 1,500 people, extending an amplified sense of urban vulnerability to terrorism in Europe. This was reinforced by the London bombings in July 2005, which again targeted ordinary city dwellers going about their daily business activities (Beall, 2007). Terrorism, therefore, is not a new phenomenon in the world history. It has existed for several centuries. Historically, the following examples of important terrorist groups can be identified: Baader Mainhof gang, a communist urban guerrilla group in West Germany, the Japanese Red Army, the Italian Red Brigade, the Palestinian Al Fatah, Israeli Haganah, Lebanese Hezbollah, Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda, Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, the Viet Cong in
Vietnam, Somalian Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM), to mention but a few prominent ones. The Nigerian Boko Haram has recently been listed among the league of world’s terrorist groups by the United States in 2013 (Okoli and Iortyer, 2014).
However, there is no consensus among researchers, writers and even policy makers on a single definition of terrorism. Thus, the concept of terrorism seems to defy a universally accepted  definition.  In  1999,  Laqueur  counted  over  100  definitions  of  terrorism  and concludes that the only characteristics generally agreed upon are that terrorism involves, violence and the threat of violence (Laqueur, 2003).
The African Union Convention on the Prevention and Combating Terrorism (2010) article 1
(3) defines terrorism as any act which is a violation of the criminal laws of a State and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury or death to any person, any number or group of persons or causes or may cause damage to public or private property, natural resources, environmental or cultural heritage and is calculated or intended to (i) intimidate, coerce or induce any government, body, institution, the general public or any segment thereof, to do or abstain from doing any act, or to adopt or abandon a
particular standpoint or to act according to certain principles; or (ii) disrupt    any    public
service, the delivery of any essential service to the public or to create a public  emergency; or
(iii) create general insurrection in a State.   From the above definitions, it is obvious that despite the variations in the definitions of the concept of terrorism, yet there are common characteristics to all the definitions and these are violence, intimidation and destruction.
Urban terrorism, on the other hand, is the targeted use of terrorism against urban populations in order to cause the most harm, injury, death, or property damage. Contrary to everyday violence,  urban  terrorism  seeks  to  sustainably  unsettle  and  disrupt  urban  infrastructure, critical infrastructure and urban life, at most times involving fatalities or severe injuries of civilians.  Thus,  the  multiple  implications  of  urban  terrorism  on  the  socio  economic
development  of Cities are  grave  as  business  activities  or facilities have in  recent  years become the most preferred targets of both domestic and international terrorist attacks. This was evident in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City, where property worth billions of dollars were lost.
African cities are no more immune to the threats of urban terrorism than any other cities of the  world.  Its  combination  of  relatively  weak  states,  ethnic  and  religious  diversities  or discriminations, as well as its poverty makes it more vulnerable to urban terrorism and a more fertile ground for the growth and spread of radical movements of international links. Some of these movements are the Al-qaeda in the Islamic Magrib (AQIM), the Pseudo-Christian Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger-Delta  (MEND),  Ansaruddeen,  Al-shabab,  Boko  Haram  etc.  in  Nigeria  (Kometer, 2013).
In Nigeria, terrorism in urban areas is no longer a strange phenomenon. However, it poses a serious threat to the corporate existence of the country as scores are killed on daily basis, and properties worth millions of naira are increasingly lost to the terrorist violence, a violence that is attributed to so many factors. According to the latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI), Nigeria currently ranks the 2nd most terrorized country in the world. This ranking implies that Nigeria is the most terrorism stricken country in Africa (IRIN, 2015).
Prior to the late former president of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s Amnesty programme, and the creation of Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2007, terrorist groups such as Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) and Movement for the Actualization  of  the  Sovereign  State  of  Biafra  (MASSOB)  engaged  in  massive  hostage taking, kidnapping, pipeline vandalisation etc. in the South-South and South East regions of Nigeria. Nigeria lost an estimated 58.3bn in oil revenue to crisis in the Niger Delta in nine years (Nwachukwu & Ekwere, 2007).
* MSC SOCIOLOGY