Author(s) :

ZAINAB Adam Muhammad.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Banditry in North-West Nigeria has become a serious internal security challenge, affecting rural communities, highways, farms, schools and local economies. This paper examines how banditry interacts with rural security governance and what this means for Nigeria’s internal security strategy. It adopts a qualitative desk-based design supported by descriptive secondary data from academic studies, policy reports, community evidence, kidnapping data and displacement records. The analysis shows that banditry is expressed through kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, village raids, road extortion, illegal taxation, farm seizure, forced labour and forest-based mobility. These activities are sustained by criminal revenue sources, weak rural protection, limited policing reach, poor coordination, fragile local governance and uneven community security arrangements. The paper also shows that current responses, including military operations, police deployments, vigilante support and local negotiations, may disrupt bandit activity but have not fully addressed the rural governance conditions that allow violence to persist. The implications include weakened state authority, pressure on military forces, threats to food security, displacement, educational disruption and the growth of organised crime. The paper argues for integrated rural security planning that connects policing, intelligence, local governance, community trust, victim support and livelihood recovery. Keywords: Banditry, rural security governance, North-West Nigeria, internal security, strategic studies, community policing, national security.

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