By Habibu Bawa
Banditry is fast becoming a household name in Nigeria. The Northwest and parts of north-central Nigeria have been the worst hit since 2012.
Fast forward, bandits have attacked numerous communities across Nigeria, destroying a lot of homes, farms, and markets, killing and kidnapping in schools and highways, which made life unbearable for rural and semi-urban communities.
According to Ibrahim Dosara, former Commissioner of Information in Zamfara State, between 2011 and 2019, bandits killed at least 2,619 people, kidnapped 1,190, and maimed and displaced hundreds of thousands in Zamfara State alone.
Many describe these attacks as an escalation of farmer-herder conflicts, ethno-religious crises, or a result of population pressure and climate change, which made former President Muhammadu Buhari propose 10,000 hectares per state for rural grazing areas, although unsuccessful, and President Tinubu’s Ministry for Livestock Development.
While past and current governments have made efforts to address banditry, little has been done to support the victims or tackle the root causes of the issue. For successful disease control, the pathogens, vectors, and symptoms have to be addressed while measures are taken to boost the immune system.
For example, the government often mobilises troops, which is usually announced and broadcasted after media reports of bandit attacks. Meanwhile, victims are left to languish in IDP camps. This situation is akin to guarding stables after the horses have escaped.
After each attack, the once agrarian victims battle scanty food, inadequate water supply, and diseases, while some state governments grant amnesty to bandits, leaving victims with only empty promises to rebuild their lives.
Nigeria has helped several other African countries in peacebuilding and peacekeeping, which proves Nigeria’s ability to curtail whatever crisis may arise internally. Thus, banditry is not beyond its control, but success requires sincerity of purpose and decisive actions.
First, the government should use every available means to block arms and ransoms from bandits, as ransom fuels banditry while firearms drive it. A 2019 research by Beacon Consults found over 6 million firearms in circulation in Nigeria, with only one-tenth in the hands of federal security agents. Communities should be educated on the effects of ransom, and severe punishments should be imposed on those who pay ransom.
Secondly, victims should be allowed to exercise their natural right to self-defence, and any funds earmarked for negotiating with bandits should be redirected toward rebuilding the lives and communities of the victims.
Lastly, the government should identify and eliminate bandit sponsors, sympathisers, negotiators, informants, trainers, and advisers. This will hinder the bandits’ ability to recruit, escape, re-strategize, or ethnicise their atrocities.
To end banditry, bandits must be treated as terrorists. Banditry is the greatest threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty today. The military should be well-equipped and deployed to take decisive action. A repentant bandit is one who has joined his ancestors.
Habibu Bawa is a fellow of the PR Nigeria Young Communication Fellowship.