DYNAMICS AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF RURAL BANDITRY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper takes a historical look at the phenomenon of rural banditry in Northern Nigeria. With the use of secondary and oral sources of data in line with an interdisciplinary methodological approach, the paper examines the causes and the negative economic consequences of rural banditry in the focal area. Economically, emphasis is made on the area of farming, pastoralism, and market operations. It argues further that rural banditry became so rampant and has assumed more catastrophic dimensions in the area under consideration since the resurgence of democratic administrations spanning over two decades. The study analyses the efforts of state actors in containing rural banditry for the restoration of Northern Nigeria’s economy and society. It concludes that, thus far, such efforts have produced a marginal result at best, since there are still multifarious cases of banditry in the rural areas in the region with ravaging effects on the economy and society of the people. Arising from the above, the paper recommends that for rural banditry to be eliminated, there must be lasting solutions to the causes of this social malady. To achieve this, the Nigerian State must inter alia do away with poverty, unemployment, ethno-religious crises, and greed, amongst others.