The current situation has been worsened by economic hardship. This has added to an already dire situation
Olayomi Koiki
Since President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, 2023, Nigeria has seen a dramatic rise in violence, with 13,346 people killed and 9,207 abducted across the country, according to a latest report.
This surge in violence, spanning 667 local government areas, is attributed to terrorism, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts, and other forms of social upheaval, according to a recent Nigeria Security Report breakdown by Beacon Consulting, a firm specialised in security risk management.
From May to December 2023, there were 5,802 deaths and 2,754 kidnappings.
The situation worsened in 2024, with 7,544 killed and 6,453 abducted between January and September.
Experts are expressing concerns over the unending security challenges and are urging President Tinubu to take more decisive action.
“The security crisis is severe,” a security analyst, Nnamdi Chive, told local newspaper, The Punch. “Economic hardship has only exacerbated the problem, compounding an already grave situation.”
At a security and peace summit hosted by the North-West Governors Forum in Katsina State in July, President Tinubu described the ongoing insecurity, especially in the North-West, as “inherited security compromises.”
Tinubu suggested that the current banditry and insurgency were partly due to historical injustices faced by conflict-affected communities.
Despite this, experts argued that a more effective strategy was needed.
Chive emphasised the importance of securing Nigeria’s borders saying, “National security involves protecting your borders effectively.
“The North-East and North-West borders need to be better controlled to prevent foreign elements from destabilising local communities,” he told the news outlet.
“The government’s efforts have had some success, such as in Borno State, where displaced persons are beginning to return.
“However, insurgents are adapting by shifting their operations to new areas.”
Another security expert, Colonel Yomi Dare added: “The current situation has been worsened by economic hardship. This has added to an already dire situation.”
Insecurity and violence in Nigeria
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.
In August, a Nigerian soldier, Suleiman S., alleged that the government’s practice of paying ransoms terrorists – dubbed as bandits in the country was hindering the military’s ability to effectively combat them.
He urged the public to redirect their blame from the Nigerian Army to the government, emphasising that soldiers are constrained by orders and cannot take independent action.
The soldier said the military has the capability to eradicate bandits, particularly in hotspots like Zamfara State forest within a week if given the necessary orders.
He expressed frustration that the military’s potential is being wasted due to a lack of direction from leadership, whom he accused of profiting from the ongoing crisis.
He cited the assassination of a Sokoto State monarch, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa as an example of a coordinated plan by certain individuals or groups to perpetuate insecurity.