Large banditry and terror attacks were relatively rare in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria’s south-west region until recently.
Parents of Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped in 2014 by Islamic extremists attend a 10th anniversary event of the abduction in Lagos, Nigeria, on April 4, 2024.
(AP Photo/Mansur Ibrahim )
It’s been 10 years since the #BringBackOurGirls campaign was launched to rescue kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls. Looking back at the campaign reveals its innovations and limitations.
Nollywood celebrity Patience Ozokwor, aka Mama G, pleads for the release of the more than 200 abducted Chibok school girls in Lagos on 29 May 2014.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Governance failure and location of schools around large expanses of unprotected forest zones make school children easy targets for bandits in Nigeria’s north-west.
“Bring back our girls” campaigners protesting in Abuja on 22 August 2014.
Mac John Akende/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
To defeat armed banditry in its north-west region, Nigeria needs to adopt a new approach to policing.
Parents and relatives of students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna, who were kidnapped, hold placards during a demonstration in Abuja on May 4, 2021.
Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images
Scholars explain how and why terrorists appear to be running rampant across Nigeria.
In 2019, members of an anti-banditry vigilante group disarmed in Zamfara but this has not halted attacks from bandits.
Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images
To end banditry, Nigeria first needs to tackle poverty, hunger and unemployment.
Residents fleeing their homes in Plateau State, north central Nigeria, on April 12, 2022 after their houses were burnt during an attack by bandits.
AFP via GettyImages
The atrocities and motivation of bandits have assumed insurgent-type criminality. But the Nigerian government is reluctant to label them terrorists or insurgents.
Education for children growing up in northern Nigeria is fraught with danger.
bmszealand/Shutterstock
Clashes between farmers and herders in Nigeria have their roots in history and an overriding arc of insecurity, but new challenges are contributing to the problem.
Tough socio-economic conditions, among others, make kidnapping a thriving business in Nigeria. A strong justice system along with stiff punishment for the crime are needed.