Nigeria’s security is in dire straits as bandits continue to trample roughshod on the lives and properties. As the situation deteriorates, President Bola Tinubu and his security chiefs seem unable to emplace a workable strategy to quell the cyclic storm. The President must initiate a comprehensive and actionable master plan to stop the rage of banditry in the country.

Already, 5,135 had lost their lives to violence in Tinubu’s first seven months in office –June to December 2023.

The bandits upped their game on Sunday night by kidnapping no fewer than 86 persons in Tantatu and Aguda communities in Kafana, Kajuru Local Government Area, Kaduna State. They broke into homes, looted foodstuffs, and other valuable items.

Unfortunately, banditry has become commonplace in Kaduna. Between February 18 and March 18, reports show that Kaduna has become a hotbed of killings, kidnappings, and criminality.

On March 7, Nigerians were alarmed by the abduction of 287 schoolchildren of Kuriga Primary and Junior Secondary School in Chikun LGA. On March 8, bandits killed two residents during Friday prayers in the Kwasakwasa community, Birnin Gwari LGA, while many others were kidnapped.

On March 12, at least 30 villagers were abducted from Budah village in Kajuru LGA. On March 13, bandits invaded Banono community in Kajuru, killing one person and kidnapping eight others. On March 16, bandits ravaged Maro ward, Kajuru LGA, kidnapping 14 villagers. Within 30 days, 452 persons fell victim to the bandits.

It is not only Kaduna that is under siege. The mass abduction spree started a week earlier in Gamboru-Ngala LGA in Borno State. Boko Haram terrorists abducted over 200 – mostly women and children –near the internally displaced persons camps in the LGA.

Despite the rapine of violence, the military, the police, and the Department of State Services have been unable to deploy intelligence to apprehend the bandits and create guardrails to curb the escalation.

Without their own police forces, many states and communities have resorted to vigilante groups, which lack specialised training and firepower against insurgents. While Nigeria grapples with 371,000 police officers, bandits have been estimated to be 120,000-man strong in the North-West alone, according to a former Zamfara governor.

Alarmingly, states in the North-Central, South-East and South-West also have their own share of banditry and criminality. While Fulani-herdsmen constantly ravage Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, and Benue states, bandits rage across Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and the Federal Capital Territory, making the entire country unsafe. Nigeria ranked 15th in the Fund for Peace’s Fragile State Index 2023, with a score of 98. It is also ranked the eighth most terrorised country in the world, per Global Terrorism Index 2023.

Ominously, the National President of the Cocoa and Plantain Farmers Association, Ayodele Ojo lamented that Ogun, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo and Edo communities could no longer access their farmland for harvesting due to the fear of banditry. At the weekend, 16 military personnel were killed in Okuama, Ughelli South LGA, Delta State, by irate youths.

Unfortunately, little or nothing decisive has been done by the Tinubu administration to relieve distressed families plagued by kidnapping, killings, and arson. Apart from issuing orders on the deployment of troops to the affected states, Tinubu has not demonstrated empathy by visiting the troubled spots.

The President must realise that securing the country is his primary responsibility, knowing full well that he campaigned for the job.

Nigeria is at a tipping point. With parents and communities under enormous pressure to pay huge ransoms for their wards, the Tinubu government must de-escalate banditry and criminality in the country by implementing new solutions, including blocking the access of criminals to weapons. The President should collaborate with the sub-nationals for an effective state policing system that will maximise its familiarity with the terrain to frustrate the craftiness of the bandits.

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