Banditry in northern Nigeria: Terrorists or marauders?

Abstract

Banditry in Northern Nigeria has emerged as one of the most critical security challenges confronting the Nigerian state in the twenty-first century. Manifesting in forms such as mass killings, kidnappings for ransom, cattle rustling, and village raids, banditry has disrupted livelihoods, displaced communities, and deepened humanitarian crises across the region. While initially considered a localized criminal activity, its growing sophistication, organization, and reliance on violence have drawn comparisons with terrorism, raising the question of whether these groups are simply marauders or terrorists in disguise. The study interrogates this complexity by examining the conceptual distinctions between banditry, terrorism, and marauding, with specific focus on their operations in Northern Nigeria. Adopting a secondary qualitative methodology, the study relies on scholarly publications, policy reports, and empirical evidence published between 2020 and 2025. The inclusion criteria emphasized peer-reviewed journal articles, credible institutional reports, and current analyses on security, governance, and conflict studies, while excluding media commentary and opinion pieces. The findings reveal that while bandits in Northern Nigeria primarily operate as marauders motivated by economic gains, their adoption of violent tactics such as mass abductions and attacks on state institutions, introduces elements of terrorism. Furthermore, the operations of marauders are sustained by porous borders, proliferation of small arms, and weak policing systems. Efforts to address banditry have combined military offensives with non-military strategies such as amnesty programs, peace dialogues, and community resilience-building. However, challenges remain due to corruption, lack of trust, and the failure to address structural drivers of insecurity. The paper concludes by recommending integrated approaches that balance security enforcement with socio-economic reforms, while also reframing policy debates to differentiate between criminality and terrorism for effective response.