Time to Make ‘Peace’ with the Bandits

Nigeria has functioned as an anchor of stability in West Africa, a region that has been shaken by seven coups in three years. Yet, Nigeria is also grappling with several internal security crises including a violent-extremist insurgency and large-scale banditry, putting into question Nigeria’s ability to maintain this role. Reports about collaborations between bandit groups and Boko Haram extremists create fear about an unholy alliance across the country’s Northern region, potentially linking violent extremist groups in Mali and Niger with those in the Lake Chad region. It is against this backdrop of severe civilian suffering and potential transnational ripple effects that we argue for a pragmatic and rapid intervention in the banditry crisis. At this point, it is time to make ‘peace’ with the bandits.

No region of Nigeria has been spared of violent armed conflict. The South, which has been grappling with a secessionist movement in support of an independent state of Biafra since 1967, is also the site of conflict over Nigeria’s vast oil reserves. Disputes between farmers and herders as well as ethno-religious tensions are a long-standing issue throughout the North and other parts of the country. The Boko Haram insurgency, along with its Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates, has raged in the North-east for more than 13 years, resulting in over 43,000 deaths and the displacement of more than 2.2 million people.1 For over a decade, Boko Haram represented the greatest threat to Nigeria’s stability and wellbeing. In the past three years, however, banditry violence has become deadlier and more widespread than insurgent activities. Bandit groups are highly fragmented and diverse in both their capabilities and level of institutionalization. Some approximate organized crime groups mainly striving for economic gain, though others resemble ethnic militias who thrive on kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, and the raiding of villages as their mode of violence. Being able to operate almost undisturbed in some areas, many groups professionalized their activities and reinvested their profits into a sophisticated weapons arsenal, including rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns. Banditry targets range from school children, commuters, and farmers to religious leaders, traditional rulers, and government officials. A recent example of a kidnapping at an educational institution is the abduction of 287 pupils in Kuriga village, Kaduna state, in March 2024. The discovery of gold reserves in some of the states in the North-west adds a further ‘resource curse’ dimension to the banditry crisis.