Podcasts about zamfara

Ƙungiyar kare haƙƙin bil'adama ta Amnesty International a Najeriya ta yi zargin cewa jirgin sojin saman ƙasar ya yi ruwan bamai-bamai kan jami'an sakai tare da kashe akalla 20 da jikkata wasu da dama a ƙauyukan Maraya da Wabi da ke ƙaramar hukumar Maru na jihar Zamfara. Cikin wata sanarwa da ƙungiyar ta fitar jiya Litinin, ta ce lamarin kai tsaye ya shafi jami'an sakai da suka taru domin tunkarar ƴan bindiga da suka kai hare-hare a ƙauyukan nasu ranar Asabar.  A tattaunawarsa da Ahmad Abba, Daraktan Amnesty International a Najeriya, Malam Isa Sunusi, ya fara da bayani kan yadda lamarin ya auku.

Zamfara - 20 Dead As NG Army Apparently In Error Drops Bombs On Vigilanteshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/zamfara-20-dead-as-ng-army-apparently-in-error-drops-bombs-on-vigilantes/02/06/2025/#Nigerian Army #army #Maru #Zamfara ©June 2nd, 2025 ®June 2, 2025 8:25 pm Residents in Zamfara state, one of the troubled states in Nigeria with frequent attacks on the locals by bandits have reported that not less than 20 Vigilantes were killed apparently in error by the Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on Saturday when a group of vigilante members gave a chase to invading bandits who killed and abducted alot of persons most especially farmers at Garin Mani, Maraya and Wabi villages in Maru local government area of Zamfara state, this, an apparent military insider news media, Zagazola in its publication titled; “Airstrike in Zamfara kills over 20 bandits, but claims vigilante casualties” released on Monday, claimed that only five vigilante members were killed because the victims failed to follow operational guidelines of military joint operations, specifically, the probably pro government and military news media stated that when the vigilantes were given signal to retreat, they failed to do so. #OsazuwaAkonedo

Legislative matters across the country seem to be a topical matter, it's no news that some lawmakers in both Benue and Zamfara states were suspended from their duties.This show of power has made the National Assembly wade in into the matter seeking the governors of the affected states to report to the national assembly to answer questions on why the situation has not been rectified.The Governors on their own, turned down the invite, the National Assembly is now threatening to take over the Assemblies.Quite an interesting discussion, how can this issue be dealt with?

NDLEA Uncovers Loud In Chocolate Tin From Canada, Arrest Man With 942 Bombshttps://osazuwaakonedo.video/ndlea-uncovers-loud-in-chocolate-tin-from-canada-arrest-man-with-942-bombs/05/05/2025/#NDLEA #Canada #edo #Irag #Italy #Kaduna #Lagos #Nasarawa #Uromi #Zamfara ©May 5th, 2025 ®May 5, 2025 12:16 pm Men of the Nigeria National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have uncovered illicit drugs of canadian loud concealed inside chocolate tins in Lagos State after the illicit consignments were shipped into Nigeria from Canada through British Airways, and the anti illicit drugs security operatives also arrested a man who had over 942 bomb explosives inside his bag, traveling from Nasarawa to Zamfara state. #OsazuwaAkonedo

Shirin kasuwa akai miki dole na wannan makon ya mayar da hankali ne kan halin da ake ciki game da noman zoɓo a jihar Jigawa da ke arewacin Najeriya, da kuma yadda ake fita da shi zuwa ƙasashen ƙetare. Duk da cewa ana noman zoɓo a Jihohi irin su Zamfara da Katsina da Kano da Kebbi da Borno da Yobe, bayanai na cewa kusan kaso 70 cikin 100 na zobon da ake fita da shi ƙasashen waje a jihar Jigawa ake nomawa, sai dai a shekaru biyu da suka gabata manoman na zoɓo sun ɗan  fuskanci kalubale a harkar. Ku latsa alamar sauti don sauraron cikakken shirin tare da Ahmed Abba..........

Kungiyar Amnesty International ta tabbatar da mutuwar mutane 26 sakamakon harin ƴan bindiga a wurin hakar zinaren da ke jihar Zamfara. Daraktan ƙungiyar a Najeriya, Malam Isa Sanusi ne ya tabbatar da haka a tatatunawar da suka yi da Bashir Ibrahim Idris. Ku latsa alamar sautin don sauraron cikakkiyar tattaunawar tasu...........

Mazauna ƙauyuka da dama a wasu yankunan jihar Zamfara, ciki har da yankin Gusau ta Gabas, na rayuwa cikin tsananin fargabar fuskantar hare-haren ‘yan bindiga, muddin suka gaza biyan miliyoyin Nairar da ‘yan ta'addan ke tilasta musu bayar wa a matsayin musayar barinsu su zauna lafiya.Yayin ƙarin bayani a kan halin da suke ciki, da kuma ƙauyukan da ke cikin tashin hankalin, wani mazaunin ɗaya daga cikin yankunan, ya ce biyan maƙudan kuɗaɗen da suke yi ba ya kawar da barazanar da suke ciki.

Four Nigerian states—Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi—face a potential total blackout as the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Kaduna State Council, plans to shut down Kaduna Electric from March 1st, 2025. This raised concerns about its impact on businesses, and daily activities.In this episode of Nigeria Daily, we explore the reasons behind this move, its effects on ordinary Nigerians, and whether a resolution is possible before the shutdown begins.

After a recent summit, leaders from east and southern Africa called for an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting in eastern DR Congo. Willing the warring parties listen?After a fire kills 16 children in Zamfara state, north western Nigeria, how can schools there be made safer?How will Sam Nujoma the first president of Namibia be remembered?Presenter: Charles Gitonga Producers: Victor Sylver, Patricia Whitehorne, and Nyasha Michelle in London with Frenny Jowi in Nairobi. Technical Producer: Frank McWeeny Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi are our editors.

Duk da nasarorin da sojoji ke samu kan ƴan ta'adda a arewa maso yammacin Najeriya, masu ɗauke da makaman na ci gaba da kai hare-hare a ƙauyuka da dama na jihar Zamfara. Latsa alamar sauti domin sauraren tattaunawar Bashir Ibrahim Idris da Dr Suleiman Shu'aibu Shinkafi...

A baya-bayan hare-haren sojojin Najeriya kan ƴan ta'adda na shafar fararen hula musamman ƴan sa kai da ke taimakawa wajen yaƙar matsalolin tsaro. Matsalar na ƙara yawaita inda a kwanan nan sojojin suka kai hari a jihohin Sokoto da Zamfara wanda ya halaka fararen hula fiye da 100, yayin da a kowane lokaci sojojin kan musanta hakan , daga baya kuma su ce za su gudanar da bincike.Latsa alamar sauti domin sauraren mabanbantan ra'ayoyi...

In Zamfara State, details are emerging about a military airstrike meant to target bandits that, instead, left the dead bodies of innocent villagers in its wake.The soldiers received a call about bandits raiding the villages of Tungan Kara and Gidan Makeri but, while flying there, saw some vigilantes on their way to support the attacked villages and mistook them for the bandits.  Join us in this episode of Nigeria Daily as we hear directly from the affected communities.

2024 brought relentless insecurity, loss, and fear to many Northern Nigerian communities, with violence and displacement dominating regions like Kaduna, Borno, Sokoto, and Zamfara. Despite the hardships, stories of hope and resilience emerged as people adapted, rebuilt, and found strength in faith and community-led efforts. These challenges took a toll on mental health, livelihoods, and the economy, raising questions about their root causes and lessons for the future. On Nigeria Daily today, we'll explore these stories, hear firsthand accounts, and gain insights from experts on navigating a safer and more resilient 2025.

On Daybreak Africa: A gang of gunmen kidnapped more than 50 women and children in a raid on Kakin Dawa village in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state, police and residents said. Plus, Zambia's Constitutional Court declares former President Lungu ineligible to run in the 2026 presidential elections. The Zambian government says it has no role in the Constitutional Court's decision. The dispute in Liberia's divided House of Representatives over the speakership took a dramatic turn on Monday. A UN program empowers Africa's public workers to use online technology to improve government services. An ECOWAS official says the conduct of Ghana's December 7 election marks the beauty of democracy in the subregion. Traditional healers embrace technology in South Africa. For these and more, tune in to Daybreak Africa!

Ce matin, les journalistes et experts de RFI répondaient à vos questions sur des bandits qui opèrent au Nigeria, un rapprochement entre le Fatah et le Hamas et Hunter Biden gracié par son père. Sénégal : la liste des médias autorisés fait polémique Après une campagne d'enregistrement sur la plateforme « Déclaration Médias Sénégal », le ministère de la Communication a publié la liste provisoire des médias autorisés dans le pays. Pour le moment, 112 sont autorisés à diffuser, alors qu'ils étaient 534 en 2023. Quels sont les critères de sélection ? Comment les autorités justifient-elles que plusieurs médias de l'opposition soient absents de la liste ?  Avec Juliette Dubois, correspondante de RFI à Dakar. Nigeria : des « bandits » plongent le nord-ouest dans l'insécurité  L'État de Zamfara au Nigeria est en proie à des attaques répétées de groupes armés. Ces « bandits locaux » multiplient enlèvements, vols et violences. Que sait-on de ces gangs ? Quels sont leurs objectifs et revendications ? Quelles mesures les autorités prennent-elles pour lutter contre ce fléau ?  Avec Liza Fabbian, journaliste au service Afrique de RFI.Gaza : vers un accord entre les frères ennemis palestiniens ?  Réunis au Caire, le Fatah et le Hamas ont conclu un accord de principe sur la création d'un comité chargé d'administrer la bande de Gaza, une fois la guerre terminée. Comment expliquer ce rapprochement entre les deux mouvements rivaux ? Cet accord est déjà rejeté par certains hauts responsables du Fatah, pourquoi ne fait-il pas l'unanimité ?Avec Adel Bakawan, chercheur associé à l'IFRI (Institut français des relations internationales), spécialiste du Moyen-Orient.  États-Unis : pourquoi Joe Biden a-t-il finalement gracié son fils ?  Le président américain sortant a accordé une grâce « pleine et inconditionnelle » à son fils Hunter, accusé de fraude fiscale et de détention illégale d'arme à feu. Cette décision suscite des critiques car Joe Biden s'était engagé, à plusieurs reprises, à ne pas interférer dans les affaires judiciaires de son fils. Comment expliquer une telle volte-face ? Que risquait Hunter Biden dans ces affaires judiciaires ? Avec Olivier Richomme, professeur à l'Université Lyon II, membre du laboratoire Triangle, spécialiste des États-Unis. 

Mazauna yankunnan jihar Zamfara da ke arewacin Najeriya na ci gaba bayyana irin halin kuncin rayuwa da suka samu kansu sakamakon yadda suke biyan ƙudi ga ƴan bindiga kafin su yi noma a daminar da suka gabata, yanzu kuma lokacin girbi ƴan bindigar sun hana su zuwa girbi da kwaso amfanin gonar sai sun biya.Wannan matsala ta yi sanadiyar talauta akasarin mutanen da ke wannan yankin. Dangane da wannan batu ne Bashir Ibrahim Idris ya tattauna da wani mazaunin yankin da ya bukaci a sakaya sunansa saboda dalilai na tsaro, kuma ga abinda ya shaida masa.

Wani sabon rahoton binciken kwakwaf da aka gudanar ya bankado yadda ‘yan ta'adda daga jihohin Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina da kuma Kaduna ke tsallakawa jihar Kano domin samun mafaka. Jihar Kano ce dai ke da dama-dama ta fannin ingancin tsaro a jihohin arewa maso yammacin Najeriya.Shin yaya masana ke kallon wannan sabon salo da kuma hatsarin da yake da shi, Rukayya Abba Kabara ta tattauna da Dr Yahuza Ahmad Getso masanin tsrao a Najeriya, ga kuma yadda tattaunawar tasu ta kasance.Ku latsa alamar sauti don sauraren cikakkiyar hirar......

Mazauna Jihar Zamfara da ke Najeriya na ci gaba da bayyana damuwarsu a kan yadda rashin fahimtar juna tsakanin Gwamna Dauda Lawal da karamin ministan tsaro kuma tsohon gwamnan jihar Bello Matawalle ke ci gaba da zagon kasa ga shirin samar musu da tsaro a jihar. Dangane da wannan Faruk Muhammad Yabo ya tattauna da Farfesa Bello Bada na Jami'ar Usman Danfodio da ke Sokoto, kuma ga yadda zantawarsu ta gudana.

Shirin ra'ayoyin ku masu saurare na wannan rana ya duba yadda rashin tsrao da kuma garkuwa da mutane ke kara yawaita a arewacin Najeriya, inda a baya-bayan nan kwamishin yan sandan jihar Zamfara da ke arewacin Najeriya ya sanar da cafke 'dan majalisar dokoki da hakimi tare da tsohon shugaban karamar hukumar Kaurar Namoda bisa zarginsu da hannu dumu dumu cikin ayyukan garkuwa da mutane domin karbar kuɗin fansa. Wannan al'amari ya sake tabbatar da zargin da ake yi wa wasu daga cikin shugabanni a Najeriya dangane da taka muhimmiyar rawa a matsalolin tsaron da suka addabi al'ummar ƙasar.Me za ku ce kan wannan lamari?Wane darasi ya kamata al'umma su koya?Wace mafita ce mafi dacewa a bi wajen magance matsalolin tsaron dake tagayyara jama'a?Danna alamar saurare domin jin cikakken shirin, tare da Nasiruddeen Muhammad

Kwamishinan 'yan sandan jihar Zamfara dake Najeriya ya bayyana kama 'dan majalisar dokoki da hakimi tare da tsohon shugaban karamar hukumar Kaurar Namoda saboda zargin da ake musu da hannu dumu dumu cikin ayyukan garkuwa da mutane domin karbar diyya. Wannan ya dada fito da zargin da ake yiwa wasu shugabannin da taka rawa wajen ayyukan ta'addancin da ya addabi yankin arewa maso yamma. Dangane da wannan kamun, Bashir Ibrahim Idris ya tattauna da Dr Yahuza Getso, masanin harkar tsaro. Kuna iya latsa alamar sauti domin sauraren cikakkiyar tattaunawar......

It is no secret that several states in the North-west and North-central regions have been grappling with banditry for over a decade.Zamfara and Niger, which are blessed with abundant mineral resources are now plagued by illegal mining and terrorism.Join us on today's episode of Nigeria Daily as we explore the relationship between banditry and illegal mining, and the devastating impact these activities have on local communities.

Allah ya halici wannan duniya tamu da koguna da dazuka wadanda ke taimako ga rayuwar dan Adam ta hanyoyi da dama. A matakin Nigeria, Allah ya albarkace ta da manyan gandun dazuzzuka da suke da fadi da girma, wadanda suka kunshi nau'o'in tsirrai da mabanbantan dabbobi, wadanda ba a samun su a  dazuzzukan da ke wasu yankunan duniya.Amma wasu daga cikin irin wadannan dazuzzuka kamar Dajin Sambisa a jihar Borno, Dajin Falgore a jihar Kano, da kuma Dajin Birnin Gwari a jihar Kaduna tare da Dajin Kuyambana a jihar Zamfara sai Dajin Zugurma a jihar Neja da kuma Dajin Lame – Burra a cikin jihar Bauchi, a baya sun kasance maboya ga miyagu.

Shirin a wannan mako zai ba da hankali ne akan noman auduga,a shekarun baya, Nigeria ta kasance daya daga cikin kasashe masu tinkaho da noman auguda a nahiyar Afrika da duniya baki daya.Sai dai hankalin mahukuntan kasar ya koma ga bangaren man petur bayanda Allah ya albarkaci kasar da mai.Jihohin da suka yi fice a noman auduga a kasar, sun hada da Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Adamawa, Bauchi da kuma Gombe.

ISWAP Fighters, Family Surrender To Troops In Borno, Terrorists' Borehole Found In Zamfara ~ OsazuwaAkonedo #BokoHaram #army #bandits #Borno #BoyChild #iswap #MNJTF #Zamfara Not Less Than 47 Members Of Islamic State Of West Africa, ISWAP Terrorists Including Their Family Members Surrendered To Troops Of Multinational Joint Task Force, MNJTF On Tuesday In Borno State. https://osazuwaakonedo.news/iswap-fighters-family-surrender-to-troops-in-borno-terrorists-borehole-found-in-zamfara/17/05/2024/ #Nigerian Army Published: May 17th, 2024 Reshared: May 17, 2024 7:38 am

As insecurity continues to plague Zamfara, the State and Federal Governments bicker over strategies to adopt to end the crises. Accusing the Federal Government of recently trying to negotiate with bandits, the Zamfara Government washes its hands of every attempt to negotiate, saying it is a waste of time.Join us on today's episode of Nigeria Daily as we look into the complexities of this controversy and its implications for the state's security.

Hukumomi a Najeriya daga matakin jiha zuwa na kasar baki ɗaya na daukar matakai daban daban wajen samar da zaman lafiya a jihar Zamfara, amma har ya zuwa wannan lokaci ba'a kai ga cimma biyan bukata ba. Ɗan majalisar dattawan da ke wakiltar Zamfara ta Tsakiya, Ikra Aliyu Bilbis ya ziyarci ofishinmu dake Lagos, inda Bashir Ibrahim Idris ya tattauna da shi akan halin da ake ciki.

Rundunar tsaron Najeriya ta sanar da ceto 137 daga cikin dalibai 287 da aka sace a makarantar garin Kuriga da ke jihar Kaduna  bayan share tsawon makonni biyu a hannun ‘yan bindiga. Sanarwar da rundunar sojin ta fitar na cewa an ceto mutanen ne a wani wuri da ke cikin jihar Zamfara.Abin tambayar shine, ko meye makomar sauran mutane 151 da aka sace lokaci guda tare da wadanda aka kubutar?Shiga alamar sauti, domin sauraron cikakken shirin.

In this episode of the Mic on Podcast, the anchor, Seun Okinbaloye engages in a compelling discussion with Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and seasoned lawyer. The discussion revolves around the aftermath of the recent Supreme Court decisions related to eight hitherto pending 2023 gubernatorial election cases in Kano, Ebonyi, Plateau, Bauchi, Lagos, Abia, Cross River, and Zamfara, all of which witnessed intense political competition. The podcast takes a deep dive into Okutepa's expressed concerns regarding the challenges currently faced by the Nigerian judiciary. He sheds light on issues such as remuneration disparities and the troubling trend of politicizing legal processes. Okutepa also shares his insights on the need for diverse strategies in approaching future cases. His focus lies in upholding the principles of justice and fortifying public trust in the judiciary, particularly in the wake of these critical legal resolutions. Join us in this insightful conversation with Jibrin Okutepa, where we explore the intricacies of the Nigerian legal landscape and the imperative for a resilient and just judiciary. Guest: Jibrin Okutepa (Senior Advocate of Nigeria

Sierra Leone: Thirteen government soldiers confirmed dead after Sunday clashes, army confirms +++ Nigeria: Armed men kidnap 150 mostly women and children in Zamfara state +++ Congolese musician Fally Ipupa's concert in Paris sells out with 40,000 fans in attendance.

In this episode, Kayode & The Guru analyzed stories from different newspaper front pages. - Magu breaks silence after 4 years - The Guardian - State spends 1.7 trillion on trips, meal and borrow N988biliion -The Punch - ‘Provide clarification on Kano's ruling', ex-NBA boss, Akpata tasks A'Court president - The Vanguard - Why insecurity is not going away — Service chiefs - The Vanguard - Tinubu inherited a country in coma – Dapo Abiodun. - Daily Post - Gunmen abduct over 100 villagers in Zamfara over non-payment of harvesting fees - Daily Post - Harrysong marries 30 women in a single day - Vanguard

‘Yan bindiga sun sace sama da mutane 100 a wani hari da suka kaddamar kan al'ummar Mutunji da ke Karamar Hukumar Maru a jihar Zamfara ta Najeriya.  Wannan na zuwa ne bayan mazauna yankin sun gaza biyan kudin harajin da ya kai Naira miliyan 50 da ‘yan bindigar suka lafta musu cikin mako guda. Yanzu haka gwamnatin da ta shude da kuma mai ci na zargin juna da gazawa wajen shawo kan matsalar ‘yan bindigar. Shiga alamar sauti, domin sauraron cikakken shirin.

A Najeriya, yanzu haka ana ci gaba da bayyana ra'ayoyi a game da hukunce-hukuncen da kotun daukaka kara ke yankewa dangane da zaben gwamnonin jihohi da aka gudanar a kasar.  A cikin ‘yan kwanakin nan,  kotun ta yanke hukunci a game da makomar kujerun gwamnonin jihohin Bauchi, Lagos, Kano, Plateau da kuma Zamfara, inda aka tabbatar da wadanda ke kan karagar a wasu jihohi, yayin da wasu suka rasa mukamansu. Abin tambayar shine, ko mecece makomar dimokradiyya a kasar da ke Yammacin Afirka? Shiga alamar sauti, domin sauraron cikakken shirin da Usman Tunau ya gabatar.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: How we work, #2: We look at specific opportunities, not just general interventions, published by GiveWell on November 12, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. This post is the second in a multi-part series, covering how GiveWell works and what we fund. The first post, on cost-effectiveness, is here. Through these posts, we hope to give a better understanding of our research and decision-making. Author: Isabel Arjmand Looking forward, not just backward When we consider recommending funding, we don't just want to know whether a program has generally been cost-effective in the past - we want to know how additional funding would be used. People sometimes think of GiveWell as recommending entire programs or organizations. This was more accurate in GiveWell's early days, but now we tend to narrow in on specific opportunities. Rather than asking whether it is cost-effective to deliver long-lasting insecticide-treated nets in general, we ask more specific questions, such as whether it is cost-effective to fund net distributions in 2023 in Benue, Plateau, and Zamfara states, Nigeria, given the local burden of malaria and the costs of delivering nets in those states. Geographic factors affecting cost-effectiveness The same program can vary widely in cost-effectiveness across locations. The burden of a disease in a particular place is often a key factor in determining overall cost-effectiveness. All else equal, it's much more impactful to deliver vitamin A supplements in areas with high rates of vitamin A deficiency than in areas where almost everyone consumes sufficient vitamin A as part of their diet. As another example, we estimate it costs roughly the same amount for the Against Malaria Foundation to deliver an insecticide-treated net in Chad as it does in Guinea (about $4 in both locations). But, we estimate that malaria-attributable deaths of young children in the absence of nets would be roughly 5 times higher in Guinea than in Chad (roughly 8.8 deaths per 1,000 per year versus roughly 1.7 per 1,000), which leads AMF's program to be much more cost-effective in Guinea. This map from Our World in Data gives a sense of how deaths from malaria vary worldwide.[3] Because cost-effectiveness varies with geography, we ask questions specific to the countries or regions where a program would take place. When we were investigating an opportunity to fund water chlorination in Malawi, for example, we wanted to know: How does baseline mortality from poor water quality in Malawi compare with that in the regions where the key studies on water chlorination took place? What is the overall morbidity burden from diarrhea in Malawi? Might people be more or less likely to use chlorinated water in this area than in the areas where the key studies took place? What does it cost to serve one person with in-line chlorination for one year? We calculate this, in part, by estimating how many people are served by each device. What proportion of the population is under the age of five? This is important to our calculations because we think young children are disproportionately susceptible to death from diarrhea. What is the baseline level of water treatment in the absence of this program? Where relevant, we also consider implementation challenges caused by security concerns or other contextual factors. Why do cost-effective funding gaps sometimes go unfilled? People are often surprised that some high-impact funding gaps, like the ones GiveWell aims to fund, aren't already filled. Of course, many high-impact opportunities are already supported by other funders, like Gavi or the Global Fund, to name just a couple examples. When we see remaining gaps, we think about how our grant might affect other funders' decisions, and whether another funder would step in to fill a particular gap if we didn't.[4] The...

It's no news that Nigeria has been grappling with insecurity and Zamfara state, has its own fair shareIt is safe to say that most news about Zamfara, especially social media, has only depicted insecurity. Is that really what's happening in Zamfara?In this episode of our Daily Podcast, we see Zamfara through the stories of its residents.

 The cattle markets in Zamfara are not just trading hubs but have been the heart of sustained livelihoods for decades.In this episode, we dive into the reasons and implications of this disclosure on not just Zamfara but other states

Ikiwa ni miaka tisa imepita tangu wasichana 276 kutekwa nyara wakiwa katika shule ya bweni huko Chibok Nigeria ambapo mpaka sasa 96 bado wapo utumwani, Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la kuhudumia watoto UNICEF limetaka wadau kusaidia katika kuwekeza zaidi katika usalama wa wanafunzi mashuleni kwani bado vitendo vya utekaji vinaendelea nchini humo.Mwakilishi wa UNICEF nchini Nigeria Cristian Munduate amesema vitendo vya utekaji nyara wanafunzi Kaskazini Mashariki mwa Nigeria vimefurutu ada ambapo taarifa za hivi karibuni kutoka vyombo vya habari zinasema wanafunzi 80 wametekwa nyara na wana mgambo huko Tsafe jimboni Zamfara.Bi. Muduate amesema “Hatuwezi kufumbia macho mateso ya watoto wa Nigeria. Lazima tufanye kila tunachoweza katika uwezo wetu kuhakikisha watoto hawa wanakuwa katika mazingira salama, wanapata elimu na fursa nyingine kadri ya uwezo wao.”Tangu mwaka 2014 zaidi ya wanafunzi 6800 wameathirika. Lakini si wanafunzi pekee, Tangu mwaka 2009 takriban walimu 2300 wameuawa, 1900 hawajulikani walipo na shule 1500 zimefungwa kutokana na kukosa usalama.Akieleza zaidi changamoto wanazokutana nazo wanafunzi na walimu nchini humo ameeleza kuwa “takwimu zinaogofya, ikiwa imepita miaka 9 tangu utekaji nyara wa kutisha wa wasichana wa Chibok, lakini jinamizi hilo linaendelea kwani watoto bado wanatekwa, wanasajiliwa kinguvu kushiriki kwenye kupigana vita, kuuawaa, kujeruhiwa na wanaharibiwa maisha yao ya baadae.”UNICEF imekaribisha utiaji saidi wa serikali ya Nigeria na ahadi yake ya kutenga dola milioni 314.5 ambazo zitaelekezwa katika usalama kwenye shule na kuahidi kushirikiana nayo kwenye kutekekeza mpango wa shule salama na kuhakikisha watoto wote waliotekwa na wanamgambo wanarejeshwa salama kuungana na familia zao.UNICEF pia imezitaka pande zote kwenye mzozo nchini humo kuheshimu sheria za kimataifa na haki za binadamu na kulinda haki na ustawi wa watoto.

On Daybreak Africa: April 11 marks four years since a popular uprising in Sudan led the military to overthrow former President Omar al-Bashir with hopes for civilian rule still unfulfilled. Plus, Nigerian police dispute the number of victims residents say were kidnapped in Zamfara state over the weekend.

The  recent attacks which happened separately in Zamfara, Kaduna, Bornu, and Katsina where so many  people  were abducted are some indications of the deplorable state of security in the country.Why are we experiencing the resurgence of these attacks? In this episode of Nigeria Daily, we find out.

In the last few years, powerful criminal gangs have terrorised a swathe of north west and central Nigeria. From camps in the forest, gangs of bandits on motorbikes have attacked villages killing and kidnapping men, women and children. So how can Nigeria's new leader restore security? What does it say about the future of security in Africa's most populous nation? Alex Last has been to the north western city of Katsina to meet some of those battling the bandits. Photo: Some of the weapons used by vigilantes in Zamfara state, north west Nigeria, 2019 (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP via Getty Images) Reporter: Alex Last Producer: Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar Sound mix: Rod Farquhar Series Editor: Penny Murphy Production assistant: Helena Warwick-Cross

Zamfara State has been turned into a gun hub by many gun runners. The activities of these Criminals is no doubt fueling an unending banditry in the state.In this episode of' Nigeria Daily, we discuss how gun runners are worsening the state of insecurity in Zamfara state.

1-Siria. La Turchia non esclude un'operazione terrestre nel nord del paese controllato dalle milizie curde. Erdogan, che sfrutta il suo ruolo nella crisi ucraina, sa che la comunità internazionale non protesterà. ( Emanuele Valenti) 2-Qatar 2022. Iran – Inghilterra una partita segnata da forti messaggi politici. Il punto di Esteri 3- Argentina. L'omaggio del Papa a Hebe Bonafini, morta ieri all'età di 93 anni. "ha saputo trasformare la sua vita, segnata dal dolore dei suoi figli , in una ricerca instancabile per la difesa dei più emarginati e dimenticati". ( Alfredo Somoza, Vera Vigevani) 4- Nigeria. Rapiti più di 100 persone, tra cui donne e bambini, nello stato Zamfara. Negli ultimi anni il rapimento è diventato endemico nel nord est del paese ( Chiara Vitali) 5-Frontiera Ucraina, guerra, geopolitiche e ordine internazionale Il libro di Francesco Strazzari. 6-Serie TV. In onda mercoledi The Good Fight, la stagione finale. ( Alice Cucchetti – Film Tv)

"“The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara” powerfully depicts this morbid symptom of mediocre, if not entirely bankrupt, leadership. It's an object lesson on the grave fate that's bound to befall a society – any society – that saddles itself with manifestly incompetent leaders." Follow us on Substack @offisidemusings@substack.com. For the article accompanying this episode Listen to episodes of "The Offside Musings Podcast" here. Subscribe to The Offside Musings Podcast's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLHMewgDizgRMm9aRscGugw/featured Follow The Offside Musings on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_offside_musings_podcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/@MusingsOffside The Offside Musings Podcast is a The Droit Media production. The Offside Musings Podcast has been featured in Feedspot Top 35 Nigeria Podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/nigeria_podcasts/ Support the show (https://substack.com/profile/58810793-offside-musings?s=r&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=web) Also on PayPal at: paypal.me/thedriot --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-offside-musings/support

Bello Turji, a bandits kingpin, has embraced peace! The government of Zamfara announced this to the public through the deputy governor, at a conference on the security situation.Nigeria Daily speaks with a security analyst and our reporter, in Zamfara.

South African police investigate the mysterious deaths of twenty two young people in a bar in the city of East London. Also, Nigeria's Zamfara state tells residents to take up arms against kidnap gangs and violent attacks, but how will it work? And after the U.S Supreme Court's decision to overturn its own landmark ruling in 'Roe v Wade', should Africa care? Plus much more in this podcast.

Au Nigeria, l'élection présidentielle aura lieu en février 2023. La campagne électorale démarre dans un contexte sécuritaire extrêmement tendu. Les attaques de bandes criminelles sont quasiment quotidiennes dans le nord-ouest du pays alors que les jihadistes de Boko Haram et de l'ISWAP poursuivent, eux, leurs exactions dans le nord-est. Vincent Hiribarren, directeur de l'Institut français de recherche en Afrique au Nigeria (IFRA Nigeria), est l'invité de RFI. Pierre Firtion : La situation sécuritaire dans le nord du Nigeria ne cesse de se détériorer. On a beaucoup parlé des exactions commises par Boko Haram dans le nord-est du pays. Le Nord-Ouest est à son tour déstabilisé par des bandes de criminels qui multiplient attaques, pillages et enlèvements. Le pays a-t-il déjà connu une situation aussi dégradée ?  Vincent Hiribarren : Oui. On pourrait penser que le pays a connu une situation aussi dégradée, mais on ne le savait pas avant. C'est peut-être ça la chose qui a la plus changée depuis quelques années, c'est qu'on avait beaucoup moins d'informations sur le nord du pays en particulier, qu'on en a aujourd'hui. En revanche, c'est vrai que, par rapport il y a même dix ans, on a l'impression que ce n'est plus uniquement le Nord-Est du pays qui est en danger, mais aussi tout le Nord maintenant, avec le Nord-Ouest qui connait des actes de ce qu'on appelle le « banditisme ». Ce sont des gangs criminels qui travaillent dans les zones rurales du Nord-Ouest, dans l'État de Zamfara par exemple, mais qui bénéficient aussi de la connivence, que ce soient des politiciens locaux, des services d'ordre locaux, même de dirigeants des villes. Donc, en fait, on a un vrai réseau de gens qui travaillent ensemble pour faire des kidnappings, pour enlever des gens, qui se basent sur le conflit éleveurs-agriculteurs pour extraire encore plus de ressources. C'est un système quasiment mafieux d'extraction des ressources auprès des populations qui sont les premières victimes, évidemment.  On parle moins de Boko Haram et de l'État islamique en Afrique de l'Ouest (Iswap) ces derniers temps. Comment évolue la situation dans le Nord-Est et dans l'État de Borno en particulier ?  La guerre continue. Le Nigeria est un pays en guerre, ça, c'est clair depuis une dizaine d'années. Hier encore, un journal a titré que 20 jeunes filles de Chibok qui avaient été enlevées, il y a maintenant quelques années, sont toujours retenues prisonnières. Et cela, c'est un signe de l'échec quelque part de la politique gouvernementale. La situation s'est un peu améliorée dans le sens militaire, si on prend une carte. On a pu parler aussi des divisions de Boko Haram qui ont pu affaiblir l'État islamique ou en général l'insurrection dans le Nord-Est. En revanche, on ne peut pas dire du tout que la situation soit résolue, ce qui était d'ailleurs l'une des promesses du président Muhammadu Buhari au moment de sa première élection.  A-t-on une idée des connexions qui existent entre les jihadistes, à la fois de Boko Haram et de l'Iswap, et les bandes de criminels qui opèrent dans le Nord-Ouest ?  Il y aurait circulation de personnes, de savoir-faire et parfois de fonds. En revanche, de manière structurelle, affirmer que ce soit Boko Haram ou l'État islamique qui arrivent à étendre son influence dans tout le Nord-Nigeria, ce serait un pas qu'on ne peut pas encore franchir.  On parle à de la crise sécuritaire qui touche le pays, mais le Nigeria est aussi en grande difficulté sur un plan économique ?  Exactement. On a un problème de montée des prix très largement en général, que ce soit en approvisionnement en blé, en essence évidemment. Mais, c'est aussi en général. On a vu en un an, par exemple, le prix des aliments de base monter, c'est la vie de tous les jours qui est le vrai problème en fait. L'inflation est gigantesque et les salaires ne suivent pas du tout. On a par exemple des grèves, comme celledes universitaires nigérians, qui dure depuis quatre mois.  On a l'impression que le politique, vous en parliez, est assez désemparé face à tous ces phénomènes. Le président Muhammadu Buhari quittera la pouvoir en février prochain. Son successeur, peut-il véritablement inverser la tendance ?   Les deux candidats principaux sont finalement issus du sérail, sont quand même très liés à ce milieu des affaires et de la politique nigérianes. L'un d'entre eux, Atiku Abubakar, avait été interdit de séjour aux États-Unis, son nom avait été cité dans les « Panama Papers ». L'autre, Bola Tinubu, ancien gouverneur de Lagos, a été aussi accusé d'avoir volé de l'argent quand il était gouverneur de Lagos. On a un troisième candidat qui est très actif, qui est beaucoup sur les réseaux sociaux. Est-ce que cela va se transformer, je ne sais pas. Il s'appelle Peter Obi, pour le Parti travailliste. Mais lui-même est un millionnaire qui a une fortune dans les années 90 dans le commerce des alcools-spiritueux. On a toujours quand même le même profil d'homme : très riche, plutôt âgé. Donc, est-ce que ces personnes-là peuvent trouver une solution à la crise économique ? C'est un peu délicat. Peut-être qu'ils peuvent trouver une solution à la crise politique en essayant d'écouter plus la jeunesse nigériane qui s'était pas mal manifestée pendant #EndSARS [mettons fin à la Sars], ce mouvement contre une unité spéciale de police qui était accusée de violence. Donc, écouter cette jeunesse-là qui sort des universités dans le Sud ou dans le Nord, qui a envie d'avoir accès à du travail tout simplement. C'est peut-être ça la solution.  ► À lire aussi : Présidentielle au Nigeria: l'obligation de rassembler pour Bola Tinubu, candidat du parti au pouvoir

If you ask any Nigerian today what the number one problem that they think political leadership should tackle - I am fairly certain security will be the overwhelming answer. In the last week alone there have been two deadly attacks in the Ondo state and Kaduna state with scores of people murdered in their homes and places of worship. Go back a week further, and the number of such murderous attacks would have risen to six. What many Nigerians depressing is that the problem is worsening and spreading to all parts of the country without any sign that it might abate anytime soon. Politicians seeking elective positions in next year's elections are making promises to end the crisis, but given how much it has gotten worse under the current administration despite similar promises leaves very little room for optimism. It is in the light of this that I speak to my guests on the podcast today James Barnett and Dr. Muritala Rufai. Our conversation is about what is now known as banditry in the Northwest of Nigeria. We talked about the origins of banditry, the nuances of the many factors at play, corruption, and the failure of local governance. Dr. Murtala Rufai is a professor of history at Usman Danfodiyo University in Sokoto.TRANSCRIPTTobi; So I'll start right at the end, which is not the most recent attack, but the Kaduna train attack was heavy in people's memory, and mentality, and maybe because of the status of some of the people that were involved. And in the weeks after there has been suggestions that the banditry issue is sort of evolving into something rather different. Maybe something akin to Boko Haram or ISWAP tactics. And some have even suggested that there are some evidence that both groups are now working together. So I like to take it from there because in both your paper your article on this, you suggested that this is a problem that has the potential to evolve even more dangerously. So is this part of that evolution? And if so, what can you tell us about the background to that and where it's likely to go next?James; ...In terms of the kind of the relationship between the bandits and Boko Haram, you know, the term that we talk more generally about jihadist because, really, there're kind of at least three different primary factions of what was once Boko Haram in Nigeria, today. There's ISWAP, there's the original Boko Haram, which we use the acronym JAS, which was led by Abubakar Shekau until May of last year when he was killed. And then there's also the Ansaru splinter faction of Boko Haram. So when looking at relationships between bandits and jihadists, I think if anything, our study was maybe a bit more skeptical of some of the claims that, you know, by 2021 (by last year) there was already more speculation. You had more comments from government officials, commentators, journalists saying, you know, the bandits, they are being recruited by Boko Haram, they're working together. I think our study was, in some ways, a bit more skeptical of the degree of, I would say, co-optation.You know, we kind of pushed back to some extent against this idea that the jihadists were coming in and recruiting all the bandits and that they were kind of transforming the conflict. I think our argument was that the conflict in the Northwest for now is very much still one being driven by the bandits rather than by Boko Haram or the jihadists. We do note, as you say, I think there's definitely room for closer potential cooperation. I think that from what we're beginning to see of the Kaduna train attack, the evidence so far, the details I've heard so far, there are kind of concerning issues there. But I think that for now, you know, even recognizing that the Kaduna train attack is a notable attack, a very serious one and obviously, the situation is still ongoing in terms of the the situation with the hostages, negotiations. So I think it's good to kind of avoid commenting too much right now as the situation is rather uncertain. But I think my view is still that one of the impediments that has, kind of, historically prevented the jihadists from getting closer to the bandits is that the bandits, for the most part, they really prized their autonomy. It's very much part of their modus operandi to operate very independently, they will cooperate with, you know, different gangs, will cooperate with each other, but banditry is definitely an activity that in some ways, kind of rewards autonomy. You know, the groups are not as rigidly structured as a jihadist organizations. It's an area where many people today if they want to get rich, they can take up arms and become a bandit. And so I think, because the bandits kind of value their autonomy, and also just given the fact that they've become, frankly, so powerful in recent years, they are not necessarily in such desperate need to kind of be recruited or trained or equipped or supported by jihadist. So I think my view is that there are opportunities from the perspective of Jihadist to work with bandits in certain instances, you know, to cooperate on certain operations. But I think, as we've seen with for example, especially the group Ansaru, which has tried in the past several years to recruit bandits to say, 'you should stop acting like bandits, you should join our group. Your fight is not with Muslim people. It's with the Nigerian government.' They go on this preaching tours and their efforts have really fallen flat. The bandits have not been interested in joining Ansaru. And so there have actually been many clashes. And recently, I think, as recently as a week ago, was the last one. And so, you know, the situation in Northwest is very volatile, many different militants, many different gangs, and sometimes they work together, sometimes they fight together, but I think for the foreseeable future, that the jihadist element to the northwest - this Boko Haram, this Ansaru...it's a problem, it's a challenge and makes things more complicated for sure. But I think that, in my view, the primary challenge in the Northwest is still bandits. It's not Boko Haram.Dr Rufai; I should just continue from where he stopped. You see, the fundamental problem is that the bandits are not in any way a monolithic criminal formation. There are quite a number of bandit gangs and also bandit groups operating separately and individually. Now having the unity of the bandits into a one united organization, for instance, is indeed a very difficult exercise. Because when we talk about a bandit group or a bandit gang, we've seen cases and instances where three, four, five people, for instance, form up a gang. And they have their own independent and absolute autonomy. They could actually do and undo, they may decide to go on attack, they may decide to carry out abduction, they may decide to do whatever they feel like doing. So now, putting all these bandits together into a one single platform - it is indeed a very difficult exercise. And there are also quite a number of them that consider this jihadist group including Boko Haram, Ansaru and ISWAP that he pointed out clearly, as their traditional enemies, and on several locations attempts by these groups to bring to the fore the members of the bandits, for instance, became so much challenging to the extent that some of the bandit groups and also bandit leaders were making it very clear to them that our problem as you were arguing is not with the Nigerian state - that is what we fail to understand. The problem of banditry is basically and fundamentally local. Until probably recently, that the whole conflict is now taking a more national dimension. You go to the rural areas, you interact with the pundits, they will tell you that their problem is local and solution to their problem also remain local.Local in the sense that they more or less have problem with the an sake - with the vigilante - and other local authorities than even with their state governors. So now, my argument has always been: bringing this bandits, about 120 gangs operating separately and loosely, individually, into a one single platform to probably relate with any of the jihadist groups or any of the criminal group like the case of Boko Haram, ISWAP and Ansaru is actually going to be a very difficult exercise. But I am also not disputing the fact that there are very few number of these bandits that subscribe to the view of either Ansaru or Boko Haram. For instance, the general believe and also accusation which is actually not confirm about the train attack is actually something executed and conducted under the leadership of Ali Kachalla. Ali Kachalla has been a very good friend of Dogo Gide, who were all initially bandits under the control of Buharin Daji. Now, there is that possibility of having that continuity in the relationship between Ali Kachalla, who was until probably recently, a bandit, relating with Dogo Gide who is actually his traditional friend while they were under the leadership and control of Buharin Daji. Of course, going by the pattern of the attack. In terms of the train attack, for instance, we've seen actually certain features and characteristics that differ slightly the case of the bandit. And that is why people have the belief that there must be actually connections with [an]other international terrorist group like ISWAP... some said it's ISWAP. some are even talking about Ansaru, and people also talking about the involvement of Boko Haram. But we've also seen historically, as far back as 2016 - 2017, when some Boko Haram elements were sent to the northwest to come and actually recruit and create a certain ideology on the bandits. At the end of the day, some of these members of Boko Haram became bandits. Because of what? Because they feel there is comfort, there is joy, there is freedom, and also there is wealth in banditry compared to Boko Haram.And that has to do with nothing other than the level of independence and autonomy that is within the bandit world.James; I would just jump in really quickly. I think he did a very good job of explaining how the bandits prize their autonomy and that issue with the jihadists. He brought up the character Dogo Gide who I think is worth describing very quickly.He's an interesting figure in terms of understanding, okay, who's a bandit, who's a jihadist, maybe [for] some of the listeners who don't follow these issues as closely. But he's someone that we profiled a bit in our article, our study for the CTC Sentinel, which is a big research report on the bandit-jihadist relations. And he's someone very interesting because he's a bandit, but he has had very close ties with jihadists for several years. There are disagreements, you know, different sources, different people will place his first contact with jihadists at different points. But he's someone that a couple of years ago, he was mostly saying, 'I don't have any ties with Boko Haram.'He is denying any relationship with the jihadist. But now in the past year or so he started to act as if he is a jihadist. But even as we did when we were digging through and doing our analysis, what we found is that he is maybe even now pretending to be more of a jihadist than he really is. Because he will release these videos or he will be communicating with intermediaries, he will be trying to sound like a jihadist, but he doesn't actually even know the proper Arabic phrases. In one instance, he refers to the leader of ISIS to suggest that he is a member of Daesh or ISIS, but he's referring to the dead leader, who's been dead for over a year. And so I think it's one of the challenges of doing this research in the northwest. It's why I think it's good to be very cautious and skeptical and try to kind of scrutinize all the data coming out. Because on the one hand, sometimes like Dogo Gide a couple of years ago, he would have understated his contacts with jihadists. He would have pretended that he doesn't have any at all. Whereas in fact, we do know that he has.He has been in contact with various jihadists for some time. But then he could also maybe overstate his level of influence. Because there are instances in which the bandits find it advantageous to maybe assume the appearance of jihadists because they think it will make them seem more powerful, or because they think that it will give them some sort of advantage in negotiations, for example. That was the case with the Kankara abductions back in December 2020 that was conducted by Awwal Daudawa in Katsina. So it's a very important question, you know, how much are these bandits and jihadists working together? And it's one that I think requires a bit of a skeptical eye. Because sometimes things are not necessarily as they appear on the surface. And sometimes these bandits… they have [a] complicated kind of calculus that will determine how they interact with jihadists, whether they want to give you the jihadists credit for an operation or something like that. So I think that the Dogo Gide example is a very interesting one.Tobi; The sense I'm getting is 'this a bit hard to predict, because the tactics and the motives are constantly changing.' So before I draw you guys into the issue of causality, which is going to be my next question, briefly, given where James stopped, do you think that's part of the reason why the government and security forces have not been able to deal with this issue? Because it's constantly in flux, it's unpredictable? And like he said, there is need for a patient and cautious strategy. Also, and this is a bit speculative, are there people in government to your knowledge who are also aware, and why is that not reflecting in the security approach?Dr. Rufai; Well, you see, what is important about the approach to this particular security threat, in my opinion, is to have a detailed, deeper, and clearer understanding of the issues. And even within the bandit cycle, for instance, we've seen people in the rural areas with AK 47 and AK 49, 24/7, that are not bandits. You can see a major problem now. When you define a bandit on the basis of weapon, for instance, you've completely missed the issue. Why? Because some of these people bearing these weapons are, basically, and fundamentally, using them for self-defense. Without these weapons, for instance, the bandits will within a twinkle of an eye, wipe them out. And that becomes a very serious problem and also challenging to the Nigerian security operatives as well. So, now, the government actually, in my opinion, the security operatives are doing their utmost best, but their best is not enough. It is not enough because there is still a gap. And what is that gap? A knowledge gap of what actually is happening in the field. It is not just about going kinetic. Before you go kinetic, before you take the kinetic approach, for instance, it is far more important to have an underground knowledge of what is obtainable in the rural areas. For instance, the Gide we are talking about, a long time ago, has established a mutual relationship and understanding with the rural communities. And I'm telling you, the rural communities around Dansadau, around Baba Doka, around Birnin Gwari, around Madada, around Dandala will never or have never seen Dogo Gide as a problem or as a threat.That, rather, what he is after is the abduction of school children, abduction of expatriates, and his major problem is with the federal government. And as long as he will keep on fighting the State, the local communities have no problem with him, they may even decide to support him.And at times, getting credible intelligence from the rural areas by the security agencies becomes a very serious problem, because the rurals will rather relate with the bandits than with the Nigerian state. You can see a major problem, a major problem here. And again, because of this level of intermingling between the bandits, where areas that are dominated by the bandits. And also, with Boko Haram elements, where areas dominated by the Boko Haram elements with the rural communities, it becomes a very difficult exercise for the security agencies to execute operations in those areas. And the major dilemma they are facing today, I'm talking about the agencies - the security agencies - is the issue of the collateral damage. If at all you are going to address this issue head-on, then definitely the issue of the collateral damage will be 100%. Why, because, you cannot differentiate who is a bandit and who is not? Who is a member of Boko Haram, and who is not? Who is a passive and active collaborator of these people? And these are some of the issues that actually compounded the issue more. So we cannot say that the security agencies are not doing anything in the field. But, in my opinion, what they are doing is not enough. What is important is not going to kinetic alone, but let us have a clearer and deeper understanding of the issues. And for that to be done, a lot of underground research(es) needs to be conducted, and a lot of sensitization and mobilization, and winning the support and confidence of the rurals or the locals must be done without which I think we are likely going to continue this war to a foreseeable future.Tobi; You want to weigh in James? James; Yeah, I guess I would just add... I think in addition to everything that Dr. Rufai has just said, one other challenge, as Dr Rufai noted in a previous answer to your question that, you know, the issue with banditry in many ways is very local. But it's also become much more of a national issue. And this also, in some ways, complicates the response of the state because the state itself is not monolithic, right.If you look at, you know, who is involved in trying to address this issue of banditry, very often these issues are occurring at a very local level, within a particular district within a particular emirate within a particular local government area. But also, it's become much more of a national issue.The security forces, particularly the military, since the launch of the first major military offensive operation [...] - that was now what? six, seven years ago. The military has also been engaged in the northwest in these anti-banditry operations. And so sometimes, there have been issues of a lack of coordination between all the various stakeholders on the side of, you know, the governments, if you will - broadly defined to include district officials, traditional rulers, local stakeholders like that - where sometimes you'll have one community [that] is actually attempting to negotiate something like a peace deal with some of the local bandits or an amnesty with the local bandits at the same time that the military is conducting a military offensive in the area. And so this kind of erodes trust. Or likewise, there will be times where, you know, a certain area is being really badly affected by the bandits, but the military's focusing on another area because their forces are overstretched. And so I think it's one of the challenges that Nigeria faces so far is looking at, okay, who are the authorities or the stakeholders that are tasked with addressing this issue of banditry? And how can you increase the coordination between the state governments; but also between the state and the federal governments; between the states and the local governments; between the formal authorities and the more informal or traditional authorities which in many regions still have very significant informal influence. So that's also been one of the challenges. And it's reflected to some extent, as he noted in the very fractured nature of the bandits themselves. We were discussing this yesterday with some colleagues of mine here at Unilag after the presentation, one of whom is from the Niger Delta area, and we're comparing and contrasting. He was saying, why can't they do what they did in the Delta? You know, what is the difference between what's happening in the Delta and what's happening in the Northwest? And Dr. Rufai put it very well. He said, you know, in the Delta, the militants can speak with one or two or three voices. But this is a big challenge for the bandits. So, anyone can form a gang these days, there are just so many bandits that there's no one person you can talk to, that represents all the bandits and you can negotiate.Dr. Rufai; And I think, added to the issue of interagency rivalry that he's talking about, it is actually a major challenge. And when you look at the operations against banditry in the northwest today, it has become a military affair. And if all is well, if teams are moving the way they should, this is an issue that's supposed to be addressed by the police. But where are the Nigerian police force today when you're talking about banditry? Nobody talks about the police. And not even the police, for instance, we have the Civil Defense. These are very local problems, local security challenges that actually supposed to be addressed by these people. But as we speak today, it is actually the military that is in charge of addressing some of these issues. And look at it, the role of the military, within the context of provision of internal security, for instance... virtually there are so many operations taking place, virtually in every part of the country. 36 states, including Abuja, for instance, you'll find different military operations. Look at the number of the military within the context of the increasing rate of crime and the violence, insecurity, for instance, the two cannot in any way match. And that becomes a very serious problem. And by extension, the military [personnel] are overstretched and overwhelmed by the level of conflict taking place in the country. And not only that, this problem of banditry just like I said earlier, is basically a local problem. And it is something that actually requires the activities of special forces. Do we really have the special forces within even the military, for instance, to address this issue? Because there's not just an affair of [the military]. Of course, nobody is talking about the State Department and the underground role they are supposed to play in this. So virtually, it is the military operating alone.And this same military [personnel] we're talking about are gradually overwhelmed by the volume, and also the gravity of the problem. They don't even know, in some cases, where to start from. Identifying who is their friend and who is their enemy becomes a problem. The attack on the train, the Abuja-Kaduna train we are talking about, is not in any way aimed at the victims. Rather, to send a danger signal to the Nigerian state. And they've actually succeeded in doing that. And as we speak, identifying where these people are, becomes a huge problem to virtually all the security agencies. Simply because of what? Because of lack of harmony, lack of coordination, and lack of peaceful working relations amongst all the security agencies.Tobi; I don't want to lean too hard on the security angle, at least for now. Because I mean, primarily, you guys are researchers, not policy advisors, at least for the purpose of this conversation. So let's go back for a little bit. Because in your work, you guys stated that the manifestation of this is multi-dimensional. There’s elements of criminality going on, economic opportunism in inter-ethnic clashes, you know, there's also the issue of climate change and damage to the environment and the strain that puts on resources between farmers and herders and many other interests. But what ties these all together? Right? How did this become such a national Flashpoint? Because I recall, maybe, 2016 when these attacks started blasting on the pages of newspapers, we don't even know the word bandit. Right? Bandit made it into the national Zeitgeist much later. It was always herders, Fulani herdsmen, you know. At some point, the presidency was claiming that they're actually foreigners who come to attack locals and carry out criminality and all that. So help me in as many words as you can untangle the causality of this. How did this escalate?James; I think Dr. Rufai can give the ... I mean, it's very multi-dimensional. And he's the historian and has been looking at this for a long time. And you know, in our different reports, we've explained this, yes, there's issues of land use, there's [the] issue of ethnicity, all these different factors that go into it. I think the one that I always stress, and these coming from my background, I worked in Washington, DC for several years, I'm still in contact with people there. Like, when people talk about farmer-herder conflict in Africa, and very often in DC, the first thing is that people have a very reductionist view of it.That's in many ways, kind of, very apolitical in some ways. They think farmers and herders used to get along, and then climate change meant there were fewer and there's fewer land, fewer resources and so now they're fighting each other. And climate change is definitely real, it's definitely a problem. It's absolutely aggravating the situation there. But I think that leaning too hard on the climate change angle, and you see sometimes governments doing this, not just Nigeria, but other governments: they'll say, ah, you know, the problem here is climate change - it's a way to escape responsibility, right? Because you throw up your hands and say, we didn't do this. Tobi; It's not my fault.James; It's not my fault. I think that one of the central issues that is seen in every aspect of how this conflict escalated from people becoming angry, to the weapons flowing into the region, to people not trusting their neighbors, to not trusting the authorities… one of the central issues is corruption.And this is an issue everywhere in Nigeria, right? It's not just in the northwest. But the specific ways it played out in the northwest, I think had a very pivotal role to play. From people not feeling that they could trust the criminal justice system or the authorities to handle disputes or legal matters related to land use, farmer-herder issues. Herdsmen felt that they were really being extorted because they were seen as kind of an easy target by authorities… whether it's the police, village heads, judges in the courts, they were seen as people that can easily be extorted. And then just everything from the fact that I mean, the IGP announced the other day that something like 85,000 AK 47s that belong to the police are unaccounted for. Tobi; Yeah.James; Right. And you wonder how you go out and, you know, we both interview bandits, we've seen nine-year-olds with AK 47s? How is it that that happens? It's not all coming from the Nigerian military or police stockpiles. But you know, there are many reasons that there are so many weapons in West Africa today.But corruption is a huge challenge, both in the inability to prevent weapons from flowing into and around the country. And also the fact that very often weapons that are intended for use by the Nigerian state find their way into the hands of criminals.So I could go on and on that, but I think interviewing people in the Northwest, and you ask them how did this start? Very often they'll talk about corruption.Dr. Rufai; I think he has actually said it all. What is far more important is the issue of corruption, the issue of corruption he's talking about. But again, added to that is, the collapse in our family value system actually added to the crisis. Situations where we have families that could not in any way take care of their children. Within the context of, in some cases, poverty, unemployment, underemployment, all play significant roles in the conflict. And also within the context of the traditional authorities again, it's become a very serious problem. And the point he pointed out on the issue of corruption. Corruption within the traditional rulers contributed and contributed significantly to the escalation of the conflict. But there are a lot of issues lumped together, more especially this issue of injustice.All people contacted and also interacted, interviewed on this issue of rural banditry are pointing to the issue of injustice. Injustice in all sense of the word. Injustice from the traditional authorities, injustice from the security agencies, injustice from virtually every angle of the society, and that plays a very important role, and it serves as a unifying factor that contributed to and that unite virtually most of the bandits together. For instance, you see them also talking about the activities of the vigilante and the an sake. And when you look at the operations of the vigilante and the an sake, it's nothing other than the idea of extrajudicial killings. The level of extrajudicial killings actually taking place in the rural areas is unimaginable even before the issue of rural banditry becomes a problem. And that is why the Fulani people feel they are not actually taken care of, they are absolutely rejected and detected by the Nigerian states and they feel they are on their own. And the best thing to do is to fight for their freedom. And that idea of freedom fighting, forming a union, or a gang for the Fulani liberation movement, for instance, was the bedrock of the banditry.So there are a lot of issues put together. And more so, within the context of the Fulani, they feel the presidency, for instance, Mr. President is a Fulani and they feel if at all they need to be taken care of, there is no regime that's supposed to take good care of them other than this particular regime that the head is someone that is their own - one of them. And that becomes a problem. And you see some of them lamenting and lamenting bitterly about the level of neglect by the State - by both the federal government and also the state government. And when you look at it, [the] absence of state presence plays also a very important role in the rural areas. Infrastructure-wise, for instance, the presence of security in the rural areas is virtually zero. I am talking about villages, I am talking about rural areas. You go to a village with 3000-4000 people, you cannot in any way see a single presence of the State, and that becomes a huge problem. So there is this type of high level of disconnection between the rural world and the urban world. And now, it is the rural world fighting in the urban world. Because of what? Because the rural world was neglected, the rural world was not taken care of, the rural world was absolutely spared from [infrastructure-wise] what we see in the urban centers. And that also constitutes a major problem. Talking about the issue of climate change, talking about the farmer-header issue, in my opinion, are just issues that are of secondary importance to this violent conflict. There has been farmer-herder conflict right from day one, right from the onset. And not only that, traditionally, conflict resolution mechanisms or dispute resolution mechanisms, for instance, were actually at work, and also addressing the farmer-herder clashes. And then the question is, where are they? Taken away by so many things, taken away by the issue of injustice, by the issue of corruption, and lack of respect for traditional authorities.And today, some of these traditional authorities, village heads, district heads, and to some extent, emirs, in Zamfara, in Sokoto, and in other places are under the control of these bandits. Simply because no state presence, no security presence, and the only thing they think they will do is to listen to the bandits.Dance according to the tune of these bandits, and also subscribe to the view of the bandits. Not because they want to do so, but because they were neglected by the federal and the state authorities. And that constitutes a very big problem. Unless we get some of these things right, unless we fix some of these issues, lacuna, and problems associated with the rural areas, I don't think peace will actually elude some of our urban centers and even at the national level.Tobi; It's so important for me to talk about this because in trying to analyze a lot of these issues, some things become a talking point. Right. And even though the government's censorious stance kicks in to quell some of these things, but they do happen. Whether it's on social media, or on internet radios, that's why I'm trying to tease out the issue of causality. Because some people will tell you, without any iota of doubt, that there is a Fulanisation agenda going on and that is the underlying driver of this. Some will say there is a systematic massacre of Christians going on in that region, that has drawn the attention of the Trump administration on religious persecution and so many other issues. So it's very important for the purpose of the audience, and you know, Nigeria is a diverse multi-ethnic society, it's easy for certain talking points to get away and... I mean, it becomes something else. So, now, I get you correctly. Even the issue of causality is not just one thing. But I'm saying it, maybe you guys are not, there's a huge level of state failure going on. Right. Now, my question then is, elections: politicians are campaigning again. As a matter of fact, one thing I learned from this conversation is that nobody is even talking about the issue of restructuring or decentralization of power in the context of this conflict. Right? We are talking about VAT or how to administer Lagos or Port Harcourt or Kaduna. So nobody is even talking about how empowering local governance, local institutions can actually bring peace, you know.But today, if you ask everybody, insecurity is the number one national issue. You know, all politicians are saying that if you elect me, I'm going to solve this... So then my question is, given the level of state failure that I am saying that I can tease out from this conversation, if you have to sketch some kind of starting point or an attempt at addressing the issue, where would you start from?Dr. Rufai; Excuse me, please, I think you've raised very critical issues that require [a] deeper and clearer explanation.Tobi; Please go on.Dr. Rufai; The first issue is the Fulanisation of maybe Nigeria or northern Nigeria, or whatever. I think if at all, there is an ethnic group that is understudied, and that is still less clear in terms of the nature, the operations, and the relationship, I think it's the Fulani.There is a high level of internal division, internal rivalry, and internal conflict among the Fulani. They are not in any way a one united ethnic group as we see, in the case of the Hausa, in the case of the Nupe, and, to some extent, in the case of the Yoruba, and the case of the Igbo.These are people that are so much attached to their traditional and local way of life. Even if you are born and brought up a Fulani, if you don't have respect and value for the Fulani culture, they don't consider you as part of them. And that is why 90%, let me not exaggerate - 60 or 70%, of the victims of rural violence, rural insecurity, rural banditry are Fulani. And 90% of the victims are not just Fulani, are also Muslims. You get the point. And you interact with some of these bandits, you talk about, okay, this person you killed, this person you rustled [their] cattle, this person you intimidate, this village you actually raided, for instance, it is a Fulani dominated village, they will tell you that that particular person, that particular village, that particular community you're talking about, we don't consider them as members of the Fulani. They are not in any way respected within the Fulani circle. They have their own code of conduct that serves as their guiding principles, that serve as their Constitution. Whoever strays away from that code of conduct, for instance, they have no value, no respect for him. And there is also a striking difference between an urban and the rural Fulani. For instance, the town Fulani is different from the village Fulani, the village Fulani is different from the nomadic Fulani, the nomadic Fulani is different from the stationed Fulani. All these nuances are not really clear. Now, if you decide to create a whole northern Nigeria to be under the control of the Fulani, I am sure there will be a lot of crisis and a lot of conflict, internal dynamics and internal differences will not even allow that to happen. Now, in spite of all this, if you have the knowledge and understanding of this, you go by the code of conduct, if you also don't speak the Fulfulde language, they have no respect and no value for you. These are things that people don't understand.Talking about now, a Fulani agenda, trying to create... No. And when it comes to the issue of suppression, exploitation, high level of injustice, I think the level of injustice committed against the Fulani in Nigeria could not be compared with injustice committed against any other ethnic group in Nigeria. These are people that I don't want to use the word docile, but are people that don't voice out. They are people that actually have this idea of not forgiving, and also not forgetting. You commit a crime, you cheat a Fulani man, for instance, today, if he sees you after 10-20 years, he will remember. And he will also wait for a chance and a better opportunity to retaliate. So now, we are simply paying the price of social injustice, exploitation, extortion that we've committed against these people over time, and it has manifested. And that is why when they decided to form up a union in 2011, you find a large number of Fulani people with long historical and deep-rooted grievances populating the gang. Virtually the first generation of the bandits, for instance, have that feeling.And you see if I am given the opportunity today….Tobi; Yeah.Dr. Rufai; To address the problem of rural banditry as the president of this country... I think the easiest way to address the issue is local government autonomy, no more, no less. If you give local government autonomy today, you have no problem with the rural areas. Rural communities will actually hold their local government Chairmen accountable, their are counselors accountable. And when there was local government autonomy in the past, for instance, we've seen the level of infrastructural development taking place in the rural areas. Because every area, every ward, every community has a representative in the local governance. And for instance, you cannot be relating with the local authorities, with the local government chairman without complaining and we've seen the level of projects executed by these local government chairmen in the rural areas. And some of these projects we're talking about are still there in the rural areas. But the major bottleneck is governance will certainly not allow that to happen unless and until they are overpowered, or else they will not allow local government autonomy. They will not because they are the ones controlling the resources. All local government resources go to the state governments. And when you go to the local government areas to the rural areas, you find virtually nothing. So now, if you have this idea of local governance, they are given their autonomy, they get their subvention directly from [the] Federal [Governement], monthly, for instance, you don't even need to hold these local government Chairmen accountable over what is happening in rural areas, the local communities will be the one putting pressure on them to work. And you set in also the idea of high level of competition among the local government chairmen, everyone will be competing. And whenever and wherever there is a rural or a local violence, rural conflict coming up, you hold the local government chairman accountable. So I think, in my opinion, the answer to some of these problems revolves around local government.James; I think, and I would agree with everything you said there, and I think, unfortunately, not to be too pessimistic but that's one reason I don't see this situation dramatically improving anytime soon. Because all of these issues, you know, I'm not an expert in Nigerian governance, but looking at like the security sector, for example, which is a scenario maybe I'm a bit more familiar with. We got a question when we gave our presentation at the University of Lagos yesterday, and one of the questions I got was about state police, people are always fighting about state police. And as I was talking to the person who asked the question after the presentation; I was like, Look, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other about state police versus Federal Police. All I can say is that there's not going to be some law that just creates state police tomorrow, like, that's not going to happen. Because it all ties into larger questions of the federal structure. You can't just have, you know, a reform of the police into the state police level in a vacuum. Everything is about this larger question of the structure of the federal government, which also gets into this question of oil rents, and you know, how the government funds itself. And so you're not going to be able to pick at these little issues so much and say, Okay, we'll do a bit, we'll restructure the police to the state police, we'll give local government autonomy because all of it ties into this bigger question about the structure of the Nigerian state. And I don't have like a vision for, oh, here's how you should reconstruct Nigeria to improve all these issues. But it's simply an observation that many of these reforms or these kinds of challenges that people have identified that I think are already very much in the public consciousness about, you know, people are demanding local government autonomy, state police, all that stuff...there's a reason that hasn't happened yet. And it's because there are significant structural political impediments to that happening. And so I think that if you know, if the problem really is that, okay, it's the structure of the federal police force, that that's one of the major challenges, then that's not something that's going to be solved overnight.Tobi; One thing that came to my mind now is the issue of power generation. National Assembly just passed a law that would actually require the ratification of two-thirds of the states... good luck with that happening...that then allows state governments to generate their own power. So we've all been locked into this dysfunctional structure. So like you, James, I'm not super optimistic. But one thing I want to push you guys on... your work is gaining a lot of exposure and I'm sure a lot more international exposure is still ahead. Hopefully, there'll be a book. So, now, one thing that regularly comes up is....there was a time the President even wrote an op-ed, on the Financial Times asking for international aid, and security, securing weapons, lifting some of the restrictions, and all that. My point is, how should the international community engage on this banditry issue? Because we just talked about how the security forces sometimes are not the appropriate force level contact for some of these problems. There have been issues of extrajudicial killings even by the security forces, there's the huge issue of excessive force, even in bombings, air raids, you know, collateral damage, and all that. And the same government that controls the security forces then goes to the international community, whether it's the EU, or China, or the United States for aid and assistance in tackling insecurity. But, given the complexity of this issue, how should the international community engage on this [issue]?James; It's really tough. The international community, I think, when we say that what you really mean is like Western governments...Tobi; Absolutely...James; China, depending on what the context is...Tobi; Yeah. There's a Western alliance.James; Yeah, exactly. The Western alliance. I think these conflicts are so complex, deep-rooted in these kinds of systemic issues in Nigeria. And frankly, we just don't have a great track record, you know, speaking as an Oyinbo man, we don't have a great track record of intervening in complex conflict situations like this. I think that one thing that I was very wary of... this is something that we kind of touched on a bit at the end of our study on jihadisation is that, you know, for now, the bandits have a much more parochial local agenda than the jihadists.Dr. Rufai; Yeah.James; This Ansaru, one of the things that was really interesting interviewing with people who had heard Ansaru preach in their villages, in these villages Birnin Gwari, they would say: yeah, Ansaru, they're always complaining about America. They're always saying: your fight is not with Nigeria, your fight is not with this, your fight is with America. They're the great Satan, they're hurting us. And these people they think, 'huh?' you know, that doesn't really resonate with them. They think 'no, no, my complaint is with the local governments and you know, the fact that I don't have roads and school and stuff,' they're not thinking in terms of this big ideological struggle. And I think it's the same for the bandits, you know.I was able to interview several bandits who... they see me, a foreigner, a Christian man, they're just oh, they're very interested. They want to learn, oh, what's the, you know... they're even asking what's Bature land, like, you know, are there different tribes of Bature? Very curious, they did not have these strong preconceived notions about the West and whether or not it's a friend or an enemy. It was very remote to them, you know. And so I think that if you had the kind of Western powers coming in and taking a more visible role in, for example, security assistance or something, then in some ways you'd be giving propaganda to the jihadist right, you know. And I'm not saying anyone's suggesting this now. But since your question was okay, the Nigerian military is not handling the situation sufficiently, what can the international community do? I do not think that the answer is to kind of take on a more forceful role, right? If you had these, like Reaper drones flying over northwestern Nigeria, these bandits, you know, their fight is a local fight. But all of a sudden, they're getting pursued by US military hardware, they go what's happening? And then that's the moment that Ansaru can say, ah, we told you, you see? Your real enemy is America. Dr. Rufai; Yeah. James; You weren't bothering anyone but these Americans, they're ideologically hell-bent on killing Muslims. And so that's why you have to join us. So I think this is a very long way... I'm not giving you a satisfactory answer, I'm just saying what I think we shouldn't do. But I think that it's important to stress that level of caution that whatever approach, the ''international community'' takes, I think it needs to be very careful, very clear to let Nigerians lead on this, to not be taking a too visible role in some ways, especially on the security front. And I think that's a challenge, right? Because as you know, it's a dilemma in some ways, because the Nigerian security forces have not shown the capacity to handle this. But I think that very often, you know, the medicine can be worse than the disease. And so I think that that's kind of my word of caution. But I'll let Dr. Rufai...Tobi; I get you and I'll get to Dr. [Rufai] in a minute, so my question is actually a lot more subtle than that. Of course, everything you say is true. If you have drones flying over the Northwest, this will certainly make it worse but what I'm asking is [that] there is some engagement going on, either it is funding or it is selling military hardware to the Nigerian government, that probably makes this worse? Maybe not directly, from the Western alliance…But, what I'm saying is, how should the engagement change if it's going to, to be a bit more progressive? Even if it is to fund more local researchers to better understand the problem? Right? I mean, to say the obvious, at least for me, in this particular case, it took an Oyinbo man, like you said, to be aware of his work. James; Yeah, it's true. It's one of the challenges.Tobi; Which is not supposed to be so. Right? So I'll go back to that point, how exactly should engagement be, even at [the] diplomatic level? Not just force? How do we better make the incentive and issues clear? Dr, you can weigh in?Dr. Rufai; You see, in my own opinion, rather than going too much international, looking at the Western world... I think, to address this issue properly and adequately, the Nigerien government [Niger Republic] has a better, clearer, and deeper understanding of Northwest's problem, unfortunately, than even the Nigerian state.Because when these conflicts actually started, it was more or less a cross-border issue between Nigeria and Niger. And what the Nigerien Government fantastically did during that period, is to profile all the bandits along the border. Both on the Nigerian side, and also on the Nigerian side. Not just an ordinary profiling, but rather to have the names, the locations, and also the family background of each and every potential bandit. And of course, they succeeded in drawing a map of their locations, and also their relationships. And when that was also going on, for instance, every local head... I mean, either the village head, or a district head, or an emir in Niger, for instance, in that particular part of the world, they have the names of these people. And these people or these bandits, for instance, were declared wanted. And we've seen, of course, going by my interviews, and also fieldwork in some part of Niger, where whenever a bandit comes in, they alert the authorities. And that was how they succeeded in picking [a] larger number of them that are in Niger. On the Nigerian side, when the Northwestern governors, for instance, feel there is need for collaboration with their counterparts in Niger. Of course, they had series of meetings with the governors of Northwest - Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, and the rest. But their unfortunate conclusion is that we are not serious people, these governors are not in any way committed to ending banditry anytime soon. Because there were, of course, some series of joint operations, but at the end of the day, the Nigerien side that were committed, and also ready to end the problem, were rather given out to the bandits.To the extent that they lost some of their officers and men in the course of fighting banditry. And they felt that is basically coming from the neglect of the Nigerian or the Northwestern authorities. And on that basis, they cease to assist, they cease to discuss issues related to insecurity in the Northwest of Nigeria. And not only that, if today, the Nigerien government decides to strengthen its border security, the movement of small arms and light weapons into the northwest, into Nigeria, will certainly reduce and reduce drastically. But since they feel we are not serious people, we are not committed to end[ing] the problem, or the security challenges, for instance, they let it go and they loosely operate along the border. And we've seen cases and instances where people were saying that, okay, there are cases of people moving into the country with arms and ammunition across the border, but Nigerien border officials, for instance, will decide to even close their eyes and feel nothing is happening. And some of these arms and ammunition as long as they aren't going to be used in Niger, they let it move into the northern part [of Nigeria]. So instead of looking for assistance, financial, funding, selling [buying] of military hardware from the Western world, the problem still remains local. I said it's local because you cannot differentiate [between] the people who live in Daura, the President's hometown for instance, and the people who live in Kwangalam, which is in Niger Republic. It is a stone's throw. They are the same father... people from the same father and the same mother, they are people of the same family. And now, there could be other forms of engagement at the local level without necessarily engaging or even involving the state government, not to talk about the federal government. So if you strengthen this old relationship between these border communities, it is enough, for instance, for you to address the issue. And the unfortunate scenario, the unfortunate happening and now is that you see two-three kilometres... for instance, if you take Illela, you can trek from Illela which is in Nigeria in Sokoto State to Kwani, which is just three-four kilometres to Kwani. And you see absolute peace, absolute security, absolute harmony in Kwani, and a high level of insecurity in Illela. And what the larger number of the people in Illela do now is when it is 6 'o' clock, they trek down to the other side of the border...To sleep!To some extent not even sleep in houses, in villages... they sleep in an open space along the border. Wake up in the following morning and move to Nigeria for their daily business and economic activities. So one begins to wonder what is actually happening?Not only in Illela, you go to Kwangalam, you find the same thing. You go to the Medujia, you find the same thing. You go to Jibia, you find the same thing. You ask the question, what is actually happening? And today, some of these border communities have more confidence, trust, pride in the Nigerien security than the Nigerian security. And in an event of [an] attack, they'd rather call the Zandarma, for instance, in Niger to call other security operatives along the border in Niger than to call Nigerian security operatives. So the trust, confidence, is not there at all. So if now we can strengthen international relations within these border areas, look at issues around ECOWAS protocol, for instance, free movement and all that, strengthen that aspect. I think it is something that will go a long way in addressing some of these challenges.Rather than seeking for funds, military hardware, support, from the international communities. And no right-thinking nation in the Western world will engage itself or involve itself in the mess that is happening in Nigeria because it is a local problem.It is a local problem. You get the point. And probably the only thing I think they will do in cases like that is to provide, probably, the necessary advice, the necessary military training, and all that. If not, nobody will just come directly and get themselves into that. And not only that, the major people, people having a very serious threat on this are basically the Chinese. As we speak, there are a large number of Chinese nationalities that were abducted by these bandits. Though some people say bandit and I argue, I said, no, not bandit, rather, Boko Haram, Ansaru, and the rest of them.Because they are people that relate directly with the rural communities. And because of that relationship, they are vulnerable to abduction. And unfortunately, if you interact with some of these Chinese nationalities, the information and the news you will get from them is frightening. It's frightening because we've seen instances and situations where the security guards that are supposed to provide security to these people were the same people collaborating, serving as informants, serving as spy agents to some of these bandits, and also to some of these Boko Haram members.Meaning they facilitate the abduction of these nationalities. And at the end of the day, they will get their own share of the loots. So, there are lots of ugly stories taking place in the country, at times is even better you don't know than you know because you know you won't even say. Because the situation is completely hopeless.James; I think that last point... the penultimate point about strengthening cooperation with Nigeria and Niger. I think that's a great comment, in part because, also, it's not something that the international community, you know, the Western powers needs to do. The mechanisms for that exist, right? Tobi; Yeah.James; You have ECOWAS, you already have all these bilateral forums and stuff between them. So it's just there needs to be the political will on both sides to actually work together on this. This isn't something that you need to turn to Washington or Brussels or London for. These mechanisms for Regional Cooperation already exist, it's just a question of whether there's the political will to use them to actually channel effort towards addressing these issues.Tobi; So I mean, your jobs might be hard, because sometimes the numbers that you deal with, and analyse, are actual human lives. And I know we've been analytical and impersonal so far. These are serious issues with real lives at stake.People are dying, 1000s, every month now, in Nigeria. So on that sombre note, I think we can close the podcast with this last lighthearted question. What's the one idea - it's a bit of a tradition on the show.... what's the one idea that inspires you, that you would like to see spread? That you'd like to see people everywhere believe, adopt, or just be fascinated by? And it could be anything. So what keeps you guys going...what keeps you guys slogging through this?James; Caffeine keeps me going. [laughs]It can be hard to be optimistic sometimes. But I think seeing... I don't know, maybe it's a bit banal, but seeing the energy that many of my Nigerian colleagues have for actually trying to address this issue, I think that helps me avoid fatalism, maybe. I think even Dr. Rufai, you know, we're sharing accommodation here in Unilag, he was up several hours later than I was last night and he was up before me. And so I think sometimes if I get fatalistic or tired, I remember that there are a lot of good people (not just Dr. Rufai that, you know, I got the benefit of working with a number of colleagues in Abuja, Kaduna, people up in Gusau) who genuinely believe that there are solutions to this that they need to be pushing for. For them, the stakes are much higher than they are for me, I have to be honest about that, you know. And so I think that seeing the enthusiasm, the energy, that people bring to this…it acts as a check on my kind of instinct towards pessimism and fatalism. Yeah, I think that's important.Dr. Rufai; I think for me, all I want to see is peace. Harmony. Inter-community relations and inter-community collaboration that actually used to happen in the past. Where we have a free rural world. People operate freely, relate freely, and that love for one another is there.But the unfortunate story is that today, no trust, no freedom, in fact, nothing works actually in the rural areas. And you interact with the rural communities (more), especially in Zamfara, where I know and where I conducted a larger part of my research. Some of these people will tell you [that] they don't need anything from the state government. All they want at the moment is nothing other than peace. A peace that will actually give them an opportunity to continue with their social, economic, and political way of life. They have their own definition of comfort. If it actually rains, cat and dog every year, they consider themselves as the most prosperous people.Because it is from that rain, the grains they produce, [the] different types of crops they harvest, for instance, that they run their daily and yearly life. An ordinary farmer in Zamfara, in Katsina, in some parts of Sokoto is not in any way poor (going by our own definition of poverty, poverty line, and also someone to be poor). Why, because they have their own way, local and the rural way of life... they harvest, they rear their animals, and you see them every year, paying money, millions to go on pilgrimage, Hajj, without intervention from the state, without a penny from anybody. And of course, from the foodstuff, they sustain their life. And they will tell you, if at all there is anything they need from the state, it is the infrastructure and facilities, particularly the roads. Access roads, where they will access the markets, no more, no less. They don't need electricity, for instance, they will tell you that 'take away your education,' they don't bother about that as long as they have operational Islamiyya schools, for instance. They will tell you that 'take away even your justice system,' as long as their traditional village heads are strong, alive, and active to [sic] their responsibilities. They believe in them, and they are capable of providing them with absolute justice. So all this beauty in the rural areas are [sic], today, no more. And what do we see in the rural areas today? A high level, an increasing number of internally displaced persons. People that were millionaires, I mean, millionaires in the actual sense of the war, before banditry, today, are beggars.Today, lives from hand to mouth. They have become so much degraded, wallowing in absolute and abject poverty as a result of these rural conflicts. And what do we see in the rural areas today, we see a large army of internally displaced persons, as I said, child prostitution, and we've seen marriage and the respected women that lost their beloved ones, their husbands, their relatives, their breadwinners, turning into prostitutes, just for them to survive. And the unfortunate story is that nobody cares, nobody reports and nobody tends to know that some of these things are happening. You will understand this better if you go to some of these rural areas.They are poor, not because they are naturally been poor, but because they were denied access to their farmlands by the bandits. And their own definition of life is land. Life begins and ends with land. If they have access to land, I mean farmland, for instance, they have access to a decent living and also to a life that could be compared with any other life in the urban centers. They don't need your water supply. They don't need your electricity. They don't need anything that one could think of within the context of a comfortable life in the urban center. Their rural setting, they are comfortable with it, because you'll see some of them spending five, six years without coming to the state capital. You ask them 'you've never been to Gusau,' for instance, which is your State Capital, he will tell you 'what will I do in Gusau? If at all, you see me in Gusau or any of the urban centers, probably I'm going to the airport, flying out to Mecca.'And look at it, these people will also tell you that the best people you can easily manage, govern and administer with ease are Nigerians and also the rural dwellers. You live a comfortable life, you steal their money, you engage yourself in corruption; they never bother. All they want is peace. If you give them peace, continue with your life. Because their belief is that in the Hereafter you will account for your deed. And that is where the problem lies. So in my opinion, I want to see life going back to normal, the way it used to be in the past - a prosperous and happy, rural areas. Thank you very much.Tobi; Thank you very much, Dr. RUfai. Thank you, James. It's really fantastic talking to both of you. And hopefully, when next we speak about this, things would have improved, hopefully. Thank you both so much. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ideasuntrapped.com/subscribe

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