Banditry, Rural Livelihood Collapse, and the Social Reorganization of Communities in Northwestern Nigeria

Abubakar Sanusi Imam; Salamatu Abubakar Imam

doi:10.56201/ijssmr.vol.12no3.2026.pg302.311

📄 Download Paper

Banditry, Rural Livelihood Collapse, and the Social Reorganization of Communities in Northwestern Nigeria

Abubakar Sanusi Imam, Salamatu Abubakar Imam

Abstract

Banditry has become a major disruptive force that changes traditional social structures in rural areas of Northwestern Nigeria. The research investigates how banditry operates together with the destruction of rural livelihoods and the resulting transformation of social structures in communities across Katsina and Zamfara and Kaduna and Sokoto States. The research uses a mixed-methods approach that included 250 questionnaires and 36 semi-structured interviews and 12 key informant interviews and focus group discussions and direct field observations to show how banditry evolved into a systematic method of predation that harms agriculture and pastoralism and trade and traditional governance. The research findings show that insecurity causes rural inhabitants to lose their means of making a living which results in five negative impacts for their communities. The study uses Social Disorganization Theory and Structural Violence Theory to demonstrate that structural inequality and reduced community institutional power create the current crisis. The study finds that banditry has created fundamental changes in rural communities which leads to the development of new informal governance systems and methods of survival and new patterns of social behavior. The paper suggests that communities should establish security partnerships with their local residents while also implementing programs that support their economic recovery and developing security measures that consider gender issues and youth empowerment efforts and building rural infrastructure and reconciliation processes which will help restore community trust. The sociological viewpoint delivers vital knowledge which helps develop security solutions that also address the main social problems that will affect Northwestern Nigeria in the coming years.

References

Adejumo, A. (2022). Rural insecurity and the transformation of social institutions in Northwestern Nigeria. Journal of African Rural Sociology, 14(2), 45–62. Akinola, O. (2023). Uneven development, rural neglect, and the rise of violent economies in Northern Nigeria. African Journal of Political Economy, 9(1), 77–101. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project . (2024). Nigeria conflict trends 2020–2024. ACLED. Bamidele, S. (2023). Informal security actors and the fragmentation of rural order in Northwestern Nigeria. Journal of Conflict and Society, 31(4), 502–526. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. Creswell, J. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage. Denzin, N. (2012). Triangulation 2.0. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 80–88. Farmer, P. (2004). An anthropology of structural violence. Current Anthropology, 45(3), 305– 325. Fowler, F. (2014). Survey research methods (5th ed.). Sage. International Crisis Group. (2023). Violence, governance breakdown, and rural banditry in Northern Nigeria. ICG Africa Report No. 305. Kvale, S. (2007). Doing interviews. Sage. Krueger, R., & Casey, M. (2015). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Sage. Marshall, M. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family Practice, 13(6), 522–526. OECD Africa. (2024). Economic disruptions and rural security challenges in Nigeria. OECD Regional Security Briefing. Okoli, A., & Adegbola, T. (2023). Gender, violence, and the restructuring of rural households in Nigeria’s security crisis. Journal of African Gender Studies, 18(1), 112–131. Okoli, A., & Ugwu, C. (2022). Pastoral vulnerability and economic destruction under Nigeria’s banditry crisis. Journal of African Peacebuilding, 7(3), 240–259. Palinkas, L., Horwitz, S., Green, C., & Wisdom, J. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed-method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 42(5), 533–544. Shaw, C., & McKay, H. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. University of Chicago Press. Spradley, J. (1980). Participant observation. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. UNDP. (2023). Insecurity and the crisis of rural livelihoods in Northern Nigeria. United Nations Development Programme Report. UN Women. (2024). Gendered impacts of rural insecurity in West Africa. United Nations Women Regional Working Paper. Walzer, M. (2006). Just and unjust wars (4th ed.). Basic Books.

Banditry, Rural Livelihood Collapse, and the Social Reorganization of Communities in Northwestern Nigeria

Abstract

References

More Articles from INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH