Losing Grip

Between December 2020 and May 2021, about 800 students have been kidnapped by armed groups in Nigeria, according to the Nextier SPD Violent Conflict Database. Most of the school raids in recent months have happened in bandits-rampaged northwest and northcentral zones. The vulnerability of students in the hotspots has forced many schools to shut down due to fear of attacks. Within the period under discussion, about 1 billion have been cumulatively demanded as ransom. The closedown of schools has not stopped attacks, neither has reported security deployment in the affected areas. Consequently, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Nigerian students\’ umbrella body, has asked Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a reported Federal government-backed negotiator, to appeal to the bandits to stay away from schools.

Security frameworks appear inefficient in handling the school raids. In May 2021, Bandits Circle highlights Ahmad Gumi\’s growing prominence in negotiating abducted victims\’ release amidst unreliable security measures to prevent kidnapping incidents or rescue the kidnapped. In January 2021, Sheikh Gumi secured a peace deal with over 500 bandits. In February 2021, he reportedly asked the Federal government to give bandits \”blanket amnesty\” to tackle the security situation in the affected areas. On 5th May 2021, Ahmad Gumi received the parents of 27 Afaka students released by bandits. The visit was to show gratitude for his efforts in securing the students\’ release. Gumi\’s influence has transcended bandits\’ circle to include Nigerian masses, especially students at the mercy of menacing bandits.

The apparent dependence on Gumi by the affected population in the face of banditry mirrors ineffectual security measures and expanding ungoverned spaces. Furthermore, it triggers a crisis of confidence in which people will no longer believe in the government and may decide not to support or work with it. This possibility is akin to the calls for guns in the face of rising insecurity and the government\’s inability to secure lives and livelihoods. Consequently, the deepened crisis of confidence and consistent security threats may further weaken the state\’s monopoly of the instrument of violence. This means that the proliferation of armed groups, which includes defence militias that have risen against insecurity, will hamper measures by formal security structures to bring peace and stability to the country. At any rate, due to ineffective securitisation, security agencies will have to deal with the proliferation of new militias that have risen against insecurity and other structural inadequacies.

In the face of dwindling control and capacity to protect, the Nigerian state must step up securitisation efforts geared towards public safety. The government\’s repeated declaration of the onslaught against bandits must lead to reduced banditry in the violent hotspots. Security efforts must be targeted at effectively combating the insurgents and fishing out the enablers of violence. The northwest and northcentral banditry must not be treated in isolation. Government must consider the socio-economic factors that contribute to the attacks, the locals that aid bandits, and improve securitisation in the hotspots. The northwest violence is far from over if deliberate and concerted efforts are not implemented to end the killings.

Additionally, there should be a robust regulation of self-defence militias by security agencies. This strategy will aid local partnerships for the securitisation efforts against banditry and other forms of rural violence. However, engagements with self-defence militias must be inclusive of all militia groups. Excluding some groups could exacerbate tensions between different militias. The Centre for Civilians in Conflict recommends that engagement with militia groups must be balanced and inclusive of all community militias. The unending cases of banditry, amongst other things, has affected education in the crisis points. Government must renew its commitment to end the carnage that brought much more than physical harm and losses to livelihoods.