Building Peace the wrong Way: Amnesty Programme and Unending Banditry in Nigeria’s Northwestern Region

Abstract

Convinced that a non-military approach is critical to ending vicious banditry in Nigeria’s northwest given the failure of the military, the state governments of the region entered into amnesty deals that prioritised cash incentives in exchange for peace. In spite of the euphoria the deal generated, the amnesty had the opposite effect of what was intended. Given this background, this study examines the changing dynamics of banditry in Nigeria, it argues that three factors were critical to the failure of the amnesty programme as a potent peace-building framework. First, since the bandits operate in clusters without any discernible central leadership, granting amnesty to some groups merely stimulated the growth of new groups for material gains. Second, the complex relationship between terrorism in the northeast and banditry in the northwest has implications for the failure of the deal and the intensification of the crisis. Finally, since bandits operate transnationally across the Sahel region, they have no regard for national laws or governments in Nigeria. Consequently, they show contempt for various amnesty agreements with governments.