For at least 25 years, bandits have plagued northern Nigeria, terrorising and robbing residents, recruiting new members, and fuelling the region’s chronic insecurity. Experts from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) suggest that Nigerian authorities should shift from military tactics and instead focus on disrupting bandit finances. These groups generate revenue through cattle rustling, kidnapping, extortion of farmers, and control over artisanal gold mines.
“It’s a subject that is least understood,” said analyst Kingsley L. Madueke during an online GI-TOC discussion on banditry. “It directly supports the resilience of armed banditry and serves as a significant recruitment motivator.”
Estimates suggest up to 120 bandit gangs operate across Kaduna and Zamfara states, with as many as 30,000 bandits overall, a third of them concentrated in Zamfara. Bandits nimbly navigate licit and illicit revenue streams to sustain their operations. Between 2011 and 2019, cattle rustling was their main tactic, but as herders moved cattle elsewhere, they turned to kidnapping for ransom. However, this became unsustainable as victims ran out of funds or were killed for non-payment.
Recently, bandits have pivoted to three primary revenue sources: unregulated artisanal gold mining, taxing trucking companies transiting the region, and forcing farmers to pay to plant and harvest their fields. “This shift has leaned towards revenue collection requiring less violence and more community coordination,” noted analyst Olajumoke Ayandele during the GI-TOC discussion.
While these revenue streams are underpinned by the threat of violence, physical violence has become rarer, Ayandele pointed out. Poor regulation in gold mining, coupled with cash transactions, has attracted bandits, who have moved from robbing miners to managing some mines themselves. “The mining sector offers armed bandits a significant earning potential,” Madueke explained, suggesting that regulating mining could play a key role in undermining their income.
Analysts urged Nigerian authorities to strengthen oversight in artisanal gold mining. In 2019, the government shut down mining in Zamfara in an attempt to disrupt bandit income. “Instead of banning mining, there is a need to support the formalisation of artisanal gold mining,” said Madueke. By registering miners and improving security at mining sites, authorities could disrupt bandit finances without harming miners who rely on the sector for their livelihoods.
Bandits have also taken control of local supply routes by dominating trucking corridors after commercial trucking companies ceased operations in bandit-affected areas. Analyst Maurice Ogbonnaya wrote for ENACT, an anti-transnational crime organisation, explaining that poor security forced trucking companies to abandon the region.
While military intervention remains central to Nigeria’s anti-bandit strategy, investing in the economies of the North West and North Central regions could weaken the grip of banditry, according to a joint GI-TOC/ACLED study. Economic investment would make banditry less appealing to young men seeking purpose and to others earning by informing bandits of government operations. Supporting farming could also prevent locals from resorting to banditry.
“It’s crucial to prioritise these vulnerable groups by providing alternative livelihoods,” Madueke said.
