COMBATING ILLICIT CAR TRADE IN NIGERIA

AN ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT INTEGRATION

Abstract

Illicit trade is one issue that is of concern to countries globally. What is worrisome is that it is a problem that can be created territorially based on the prohibition regimes in place. In Nigeria, one aspect of illicit activity that has not received adequate attention in literature is the illicit car trade. This paper therefore examines the fight against illicit car trade in Nigeria and tries to find out how integrated the third level of government is in the process. This paper made used of modelling as the primary source of data collection and complimented with secondary sources. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The theory of transnationalism was adopted as a framework for analysis. This paper observed that the local government is not fully integrated in the fight against illicit car trade in Nigeria, and argues that local government is very essential in combating illicit car trade. This is because crime generally thrives with collaboration of local inhabitants. Hence, there is need to properly integrate the local government, by extension the local people in the fight against all forms of illicit trade and car trade in particular.