201. Fighting From the Bottom Up: Community Mobilisation as a Viable Strategy in Combating Banditry in Nigeria
- Author:
- Tope Shola Akinyetun
- Publication Date:
- 10-2023
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Conflict Trends
- Institution:
- The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
- Abstract:
- The incidence of banditry in Nigeria has attracted enormous attention in scholarship, with writers paying attention to the causes of the security impasse and its effect on securitisation, development and national cohesion. Despite the attention garnered, banditry in Nigeria appears to be growing deadlier, especially in the northwest, where it has reportedly killed more than 20 000 people in the last ten years, demanded millions of dollars in ransom, and displaced millions of people after destroying villages. These gangs, which initially only targeted rural areas, have significantly increased their operations to include major cities, interstates, and infrastructure, including train lines and military targets, and their tactics have progressed to include the use of powerful weapons, such as anti-aircraft missiles and explosives.1 Bandits are notorious for abducting schoolchildren and attacking educational facilities. For instance, over 2 600 citizens were slain by armed bandit groups in 2021, an increase of more than 250% from the previous year. At least 360 people were killed by bandits in Kaduna State alone between January and March 2022. More than 100 people were killed on 10 April during attacks on numerous communities in the Kanam Local Government Area, Plateau State.2 The root causes of banditry include poverty, youth unemployment, climate change, bad governance, corruption and the lack of adequate security protection for vulnerable communities.3 The proliferation of small and light weapons, a weak security infrastructure, inadequate leadership, cattle rustling, herder-farmer conflict, and illicit mining operations in the North West are further contributing factors for banditry. In addition to the human cost of banditry, it has a significant economic impact on the country. Banditry and other forms of armed violence cost the Nigerian economy billions of dollars each year. The problem is likely to continue to grow unless effective measures are implemented to address it. Efforts to address the problem of banditry in Nigeria have included both military and nonmilitary approaches. The Nigerian government deployed troops to affected areas and implemented economic and development programmes in an attempt to reduce poverty and provide alternatives to banditry. However, these efforts have yielded mixed results, and the problem persists. Some experts have argued that a more comprehensive and multifaceted approach is needed to address the root causes of banditry in Nigeria and effectively combat the problem. This could include increased investment in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, promoting economic development and reducing poverty, as well as efforts to prioritise community mobilisation.
- Topic:
- Vigilantism, Mobilization, Community Initiatives, and Bandits
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Nigeria