SIR: Banditry has become alarming in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic to the extent that it poses a serious security threat not only to the Northwest region but to Nigeria at large. The level at which bandits operate within the landscape of Nigeria’s northwest has led to spree of kidnapping, maiming of people, loss of lives, population displacements, loss of cattle, disruption of socio-economic activities in general, and equally brought about an atmosphere of uncertainty, a situation that has become worrisome to the government and the citizenry.
While more than 1,100 people were killed in 2018 in the six states of the Northwest, over 2,200 were killed in 2019, and more than 1,600 fatalities were recorded between January and June 2020 (Council on Foreign Relations, 2020). By September 2019, such attacks had internally displaced over 160,000 people and produced more than 41,000 refugees (World Food Programme, 2019; United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, 2019). The numbers of the displaced now stand at over 247,000 IDPs and some 60,000 refugees in 2020.
The situation has changed dramatically over the past week. The terrorists, who had been attacking numerous targets, including military establishments, led an assault against the Kaduna airport and stopped flights. Then they attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train, derailed it and broke into the first-class wagons occupied by members of the governing class and their families, killing some and kidnapping others. Meanwhile, these outlaws have had ownership of the Abuja-Kaduna road for years and they attack, kill and kidnap victims at will.
In other words, after years of killing and maiming ordinary Nigerians, especially in rural Nigeria, without much notice by those in charge of the state, they are now making a direct beeline for members of the governing class and their families.
Several factors have been adduced as the driving forces of banditry in Nigeria and most especially in the northwest region of the country. Prominent among these are the scarcely governed spaces- the hinterlands, forestlands and borderlines of the region. The northwestern hinterlands are marked by extremely dispersed rural settlements, separated by rangelands and farmlands that are susceptible to violent contestations.
They are also interspersed by diverse forested landscapes, some of which are dotted by wetlands, rocks and caves. Apart from being separated from each other, they are equally far separated from the centres of governance at the local and state levels. The forestlands of the region are vast, rugged and hazardous. Most importantly, they are grossly under-policed to the point that makes them conducive for all forms of jungle criminality. In view of this, violent crimes, such as banditry, have festered and thrived in such forested areas. Most attacks occur in remote villages, close to forested regions in the north-west where there is little security presence.
In likewise manner, banditry occurs in large swathes of forest reserves that are generally out of the reach of the security operatives. Most of the bandit activities take place in state-owned reserves such as the Kamuku, Kiyanbana, and Fagore forests. The forests offer perfect locations as hide outs for the criminals to evade arrest from security forces. The reluctance of the Nigerian security operatives to enter these forest areas seems to be largely due to inefficiency, connivance of the local people, lack of sophisticated equipment and poor motivation of the Nigerian security forces.
Nigeria national security ambience has been quite tense and volatile over the years. While the Northeast is still under the siege of Boko Haram, the Northwest is steadily sliding into the morass of rural banditry. Just like Boko Haram insurgency, rural banditry has metamorphosed from a sporadic onset to a rapid upsurge in the recent years. Again, quite like the insurgents, the bandits have become not only stationary but also sedentary in the frontiers and hinterlands of the Northwest. The consequence has been massive plundering and carnage, which has plunged the region into a sort of humanitarian eschatology.
The way forward lays in a systematic approach capable of devitalizing the gamut of socio-existential factors that underlie it. This would entail a conscious and conscientious effort at undoing the totality of the socio-existential conditions that tend to precipitate it.
- Felix Oladeji,
Lagos.