ARMED BANDITRY AND NIGERIA NATIONAL SECURITY: A STUDY OF THE NORTH WEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The State governments and citizens in the Northern parts of Nigeria have shifted their worries from the menace in the North East by non-state actors as Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Province (ISWAP); other resultant menacing social vices, field attacks from rodents, pests and diseases on their crops, to the now trending violent activities of bandits and Fulani marauders. In recent time, banditry and government counter responses in the North-West have as a matter of necessity dominated national security discourse. Hundreds of lives and properties have been lost, including people being displaced from their homes, relatives and means of livelihood. Socio-economic activities have been derailed and the end seems comatose in spite of the declaration of the bandits as terrorists by the Federal Government gazette in November 2021, days after a federal high court order in Abuja. It is on this premise that this study considers it appropriate to examine the fundamental causes of banditry, its effects and government efforts against this menace in the northern part of the country with a focus on the North-West geopolitical zone. To achieve its objectives, the study adopted historical research design and relied on secondary source of data such as books, journal articles, newspaper articles, periodicals, internet materials, among others. This study also utilizes the Instrumental theory of Violence which is premised on the assumption that acts relating to insurgency and terrorism are deliberate choice by either state or non-state actors to demand for change and drive group’s agenda and intentions in a socio-political system. The study found out that the consequences of the activities of the bandits have greater impact not only on the alternative means of sustainability of livelihood of the people of the northwest, but the Nigeria national security in generally. Policy options have been suggested to ameliorate this form of terrorism in Nigeria, particularly in the northwest geopolitical zone.