INSECURITY: Bandits Challenging Supremacy Of Nigerian State — Expert

The upsurge in activities of bandits in northern Nigeria, especially in the North West, has been described as a rebellion against the supremacy of the Nigerian state.

A security expert and Managing Director Beacon Consulting Nigeria, Kabir Adamu, disclosed this in a phone conversation with THE WHISTLER.

Adamu spoke against the backdrop of the proliferation of kidnapping, attacks and killings in the North West region. He also explained the factors responsible for the trend.

He attributed it to poverty, social economic grievance and the inability of security agencies to establish social order in the region.

“By that I mean people are committing offence and getting away with it, people possessed weapon that are not licensed and they are able to use these weapons and no consequences.

“They are challenging the supremacy of the state and they are getting away with it,” he said.

He also identified factors such as vast territory, ungoverned spaces and climate change as root causes of the farmers/herders clash in some parts the nation.

He criticized the federal and state governments for failing to stop insurgency in the North East, kidnappings and attacks in North West, violence in the South East, and the Farmers/Herders clash in the Middlebelt.

Adamu said their inability to address the situation at various levels had worsened the menace of insecurity across the country.

Reiterating poverty as a root cause, he said it was “unfair to put that blame on the Federal Government alone”, adding, “Addressing poverty is the responsibility of both the state actors as well”.

However, he said insurgency in the North East had witnessed improvement in recent times compared to the past.

“There has been an improvement because if we cast our mind back 2014 when about 27 Local Government Area (LGA), or thereabout were in control of the terrorist groups. They were controlling them, like their own territory.

“For you to live in those LGAs you have to agree to their own laws as it were and you had to agree to pay taxes to them. They hoisted their flag.

“However, currently there are no LGAs that are 100 per cent in control of these terrorist groups,” he said speaking on the security situation in Borno State but noted, “there are still security challenges to be addressed”.

In the last six months, there has been increased cases of abduction and killing of students, residents, clergymen, to mention but a few, in different geo-political regions of the country.

Not only has kidnapping taking the center stage, but has become a thriving avenue of generating revenue for bandits.