In Nigeria, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other types of Serious Organised Crime (SOC) threaten the country’s stability. The Global Organised Crime Index ranks Nigeria as the most criminally dangerous country in West Africa, and the fifth most criminally dangerous country in the world. Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) frequently permeate economic systems and perpetuate corruption. Widespread crime discourages trade and investment, undermining the country’s potential for sustainable economic growth.

The Nigeria SOC Prevent project is a three year intervention  sponsored by the UK Home Office and implemented by the Torchlight Group in Edo, Bayelsa, Zamfara, and Lagos. Using the UK Prevent Model, the project aims to establish Crime Prevention Partnerships in areas with high criminality rates.It relies on collaboration with the Nigerian Police Force, state government ministries, and civil society actors (community leaders, religious elders, sports clubs, etc.). Through these strategic partnerships, the programme seeks to prevent SOC by providing alternative pathways for people at risk.

The programme will also deliver localised strategic communications to facilitate individuals’ redirection from crime and help them sustain alternative life pathways. It will do so by:

  • Reducing community tolerance of Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) 
  • Facilitating the positive reintegration of former criminals back into their communities
  • Encouraging community members to report SOC activity (either directly to police or through trusted community leaders)

To support the programme, ORB is providing technical assistance to the implementing partners’ Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) leads through:

  • In-country training
  • Development of the results
    framework and data collection tools
  • Ongoing M&E support
  • Quality assurance
  • Collecting lessons learned to inform adaptive management.

ORB is also providing an independent assessment of the project’s strategic communications campaigns to evaluate their effectiveness in changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours towards SOC.

For more information about our work on this programme please contact Richard Hooper (rhooper@orb-international.com).

Cover Photo by howtostartablogonline.net using Attribution 2.0 Generic License (CC BY 2.0)

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