Bandits’ Struggle for Survival and its Humanitarian Impacts in Zamfara State, Nigeria

Over time, the conflict between farmers and herdsmen has intensified and transformed into banditry in Zamfara state. While literature underscores the causational and transformational issues, how desperate attempts of the bandits to survive led to fierce upsurges in attacks in the state has not been extensively explored. Hence, this paper examines the bandits’ desperation for survival and its impacts on the state. The paper adopts constructionist thematic analysis, and explanatory sequential methods was applied while presenting and analyzing the data from secondary sources and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Predicated on eco-survivalism, the bandits’ desperate attempts to survive were due to the competing challenge from the vigilantes and the government to eliminate them and their source of illegitimate wealth. They created more ferocious reinvigoration to accomplish their survival goals. It has upscaled deterioration in the attacks and the humanitarian crises in the state. Many lives were lost, kidnapping skyrocketed, and more properties were destroyed, with appalling human displacements. The consequences were a significant drop in agricultural production and loss of livelihood sources, increased health challenges, and the devastating proliferation of out-of-school children. This paper suggests a gradual confidence building through effective security governance for the bandits interested in reducing their desperation while rehabilitating their livelihood sources to ensure peaceful coexistence.