The bandits’ world: recruitment strategies, command structure and motivations for mass casualty attacks in northwest Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyses the dynamics of banditry in northwest Nigeria through qualitative and quantitative research methodology. To populate their cells, bandits apply economic incentives and coercion. They also leverage existing social relationship with members of the communities. Banditry manifests through the deployment of large-scale violence, but it is strongly undergirded by a criminal economy. The organizational structures of bandits have developed over time by accident and by design depending on the evolution of each cell and the contexts in which they operate. The paper concludes that efforts to eliminate, neutralise and disrupt (END) banditry in northwest Nigeria must embrace three strategies – the peacebuilding approach, security sector reform, and development.