Monthly Policy

Non-state violent actors have held Northern Nigeria to ransom in the last ten years. As the state and society grapple ineffectively with these conflicts, rampaging bandits have emerged in the North-West rustling cattle, kidnapping, raping, and killing the people. But surprisingly, instead of the state and its allies to rise to the challenge of banditry, they have opted for an amnesty for the outlaws.

This month’s Nextier SPD Monthly analyses the amnesty programme for repentant bandits in Northwest Nigeria. Hinging on desk research and critical observations, it examines the causative factors of banditry, the intricacies, possible outcomes of the amnesty programmes and sustainable measures government can adopt to prevent violence.

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Land in Nigeria are not only a factor of production with economic worth, but also has historical and ancestral values. These values as well as factors such as faulty colonial boundary demarcations and the new economic role of land introduced by colonial-capitalist domination, are some of the main enablers of violent conflicts over land.

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Whether as objects of local conflicts between miners and the surrounding communities or regional conflicts such as militancy in the Niger Delta and banditry in the North-West region, mining has continued to play significant role in conflicts and insecurity across Nigeria. Although violent conflicts and insecurity have preoccupied the attention of the Federal Government, security agencies and security analysts, the role of mining in all of this appears not be given much attention in scholarly and policy literature.

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Over the last decade, kidnapping for ransom has evolved into one of the most pervasive and atrocious forms of criminal violence in Nigeria.  Whether in scale or frequency, kidnapping has metastasised into one of the most visible forms of security threats in the country (Osumah and Aghedo, 2012).  These days hardly does a week pass by without media reports of various kidnap cases. This month\’s Nextier SPD Policy Monthly examines kidnap violence in Nigeria

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Kaduna State has been a major flashpoint of sectarian violence for several years. In the last one year, it has been embroiled in recurrent communal clashes. In February 2019, low-intensity conflicts in Kajuru Local Government Area of the state resulted in over 60 deaths, wanton destruction of properties, and massive displacement of persons. Though there have been similar conflicts in Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue states, yet the case of Kaduna has been more enduring.

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Plateau State which used to bear the appellation ‘Home of Peace and Tourism’ has metamorphosed into a killing field in recent years on account of sectarian violence. The 3.2 million populations of the state are composed of over 50 ethnic groups out of Nigeria’s 374 groups, making the state a miniature Nigeria in terms of diversity. However, cyclical violence on the Jos Plateau has exerted a huge toll on lives, investments, mutual trust, and the national image. The conflicts between the indigenes and the Jasawa have been further fuelled by the relegation of a single citizenship, leading to ‘us versus them’ violent struggle for power, land, pasture, water and other forms of scarce public goods.

The Plateau State government estimated that over 7,000 lives were lost to violence in the state between 2001 and 2015 (Plateau Peace Building Agency, 2018). Without sign of abatement, estimates by Nigeria Security Tracker reveal that in 2018 alone, a total of 2,037 conflict-related deaths were recorded in the North-Central region including Plateau State. In contrast, only 1,041 of such deaths were recorded in 2017.

These figures even slightly exceeded the 2,016 deaths perpetrated by Boko Haram in the North-East in the period under review (Harwood, 2018). Though the narratives of grievances of the conflict actors have been wrapped up in religious idiom, yet the political elite in Plateau State have often manipulated the conflicts for their selfish agendas. The major trigger of the recurrent conflicts since 1999 has been political intrigues.

Following these developments, this edition of Nextier SPD Monthly examines the implications of endless conflicts in Plateau State and makes recommendations on how to tackle them.

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