When Peace Deals Fail

For some years now, Nigeria\’s northwest region has witnessed a gruesome number of deaths.  Armed banditry, inter-communal clashes, ethnoreligious wars, and other forms of violence have put the region as the unofficial theatre of violence in Nigeria, after the terror-troubled northeast region. Despite the different elements of peace deals and agreements with menacing bandits in 2019, the problem of banditry is still a worrisome challenge in the year 2020. Therefore, it is important to ask, has the peace deals failed? What went wrong along the line?

States\’ responses to the bouts of bloody violence perpetrated by bandits in the northwest region were the hastily reached peace agreements with different bandits\’ groups in the affected states. Arguably, the peace deals were likely to be short term for some reasons. First, armed banditry in the region was caused by some internal factors including alleged extrajudicial killings, age-long inter-communal feuds and declining socio-economic situations that were not thoroughly considered in the peace deals. Second, the terms of the amnesty in the different states were unclear, as the information was not readily open to the public. At some point, repentant bandits were either performing policing functions or indulging in extrajudicial killings. The different amnesty deals in the area were considerably unsustainable. This is evident in the number of bandits\’ attacks even after the peace agreements were reached with bandits. For example, just today, about 18 people were killed by bandits in Katsina state.

Therefore, affected northwestern and some north-central states need to do more. Recently, the rise of violent bandits\’ attacks in Katsina state led to riotous protests by clearly frustrated youths. Following these bloody turns of events despite different forms of amnesty deals struck by the affected states, affected state governments need to form a collective front against banditry. While the idea of amnesty is a reactionary effort to stem the tide of violence, dealing with the root causes of the problem is more sustainable. State governments in the region should examine the internal factors that fuel banditry in the states.  

As a fact, buying peace is not the best way. While peace deals tend to ensure relative normalcy, it is not as sustainable as solving the root causes of banditry in the states. As currently being experienced, when peace deals are not comprehensively and properly executed, the chance of short-term success is high. In Amnesty for Bandits, Nextier SPD argues that rather than buying peace from bandits who have killed, maimed and destroyed lives and livelihoods, governments and stakeholders in the region should focus more on investing in human capital development, ensure fair and just distribution system of public goods, welfare programmes for the poor and vulnerable. They should promote inclusive governance and empower security agencies to be more efficient and effective. Governments’ proactiveness in salvaging the issue of banditry will be more rewarding than haphazard amnesty deals.