Banditry and Food Security in North West Nigeria, 2015-2025

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between banditry and food security and the impact of banditry-induced displacement on household food security in North West Nigeria between 2015 and 2025. Armed banditry, comprising killings, kidnapping, cattle rustling and farm destruction, escalated sharply across Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna and Kebbi States over the decade, disrupting a region long regarded as Nigeria's agricultural heartland. The study was anchored on Human Security Theory and the Political Economy Theory of Conflict, which together linked the human consequences of insecurity to its economic and institutional causes. A case study research design was adopted, relying entirely on secondary qualitative sources, including academic journals, government and institutional reports, publications of international organisations, and credible media reporting, since the prevailing insecurity made primary fieldwork in the affected communities unsafe. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings established a structural and consistently negative relationship between banditry and food security, with over 60 percent of farmers abandoning farmland during peak attack periods and rural food insecurity in Zamfara State rising from 38 percent in 2015 to 61 percent in 2024. Displacement was found to severely undermine household food security, stripping families of farmland, livestock, tools and stored grain, and leaving them dependent on humanitarian assistance that was often inadequate and irregular, with women, children and the elderly disproportionately affected. The study concluded that banditry operated as a structural and self-reinforcing driver of food insecurity, and recommended enhanced security for farming communities, targeted food and livelihood support for displaced households, and livelihood restoration programmes for returnees.