BANDITRY AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE IN NORTHWEST NIGERIA: STATE FRAGILITY AND INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE

Abstract

Research Problem Banditry in Northwest Nigeria has turned into a long-term security challenge that shows severe state fragility, institutional incoherence, and politically driven governance failures. Despite several military operations and policy changes, formal institutions still continue to fail in stopping violence, which allows hybrid security arrangements and informal security structures to become more entrenched. Methods/Theory This study uses a qualitative research approach, grounded on the secondary data from policy reports, scholarly publications, and verified media sources. It integrates state fragility theory with rational choice institutionalism, which together help to explain how weak institutions and elite political incentives shape patterns of insecurity in Kaduna, Katsina, and Zamfara States. Results The findings show that banditry is not merely a consequence of poverty, environmental pressure, or inadequate capacity, but rather a politically mediated outcome of fragmented governance and elite exploitation of state resources. Hybrid state governance, characterized by the coexistence of state forces, vigilantes, and armed groups, has become an institutionalized way of doing things. This has changed the balance of power and made people less trusting of the state. The study further reveals how ransom economies, informal negotiations, and criminal governance reinforce institutional decay and legitimize non-state authority. Conclusion Banditry persists because institutional fragility is both exploited and reproduced by political actors. As hybrid governance expands, state legitimacy erodes, and violent acts become embedded in everyday political life. Key Contribution to Knowledge The study proposes a causal framework that links elite rationality, institutional failure, and hybrid security arrangements, offering a more politically grounded explanation of banditry in fragile contexts. Recommendation Addressing the banditry crisis requires decentralization reforms, rebuilding judicial capacity, community-based security arrangements, and development strategies that directly tackle structural drivers of fragility.