Countering Banditry in Nigeria: Examining the Contradictions of Progress

In recent years, armed bandits have been on the prowl across North-Western Nigeria, inflicting high costs on lives, livelihoods, and investments. The activities of the gangs have spread from Zamfara State to several other states in the North-West and North-Central geopolitical zones. The mobility of banditry has been swift, enveloping all parts of Zamfara State and 13 and 14 local government areas of Katsina and Sokoto States, respectively, among others. More than 1,000 students have been kidnapped for huge ransom in the area in the last year alone. Nigeria\’s overarching reliance on repressive strategy in containing the violence has not succeeded in mitigating the insecurity, prompting the adoption of some non-kinetic measures. In the last few weeks, government forces have shut down telecom signals and significantly prevented food and fuel supplies to areas occupied by bandits. This blockade of critical supplies has forced many bandits to surrender.

Despite the government\’s boast of success, the cutting-off of life-supporting supplies seems to be a double-edged sword. It has also forced several bandits to migrate to initially peaceful areas to continue their violence. Following this development, Nextier SPD policy weekly edition examines the unexpected consequences of smoking out the bandits and measures to arrest the trend.

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