On March 17, 2026, in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a series of suspected suicide bombings near the post office, a market, and the entrance to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital left at least 23 people dead and more than 100 injured in multiple incidents. Maiduguri has often been the site of conflict and suicide attacks amid insurgency by extremist groups, yet in recent years it had come to be known as a relatively calm oasis.
In February of the same year, a massive shooting incident in Kwara State in western Nigeria left more than 160 people dead. Armed groups attacked several villages in Kwara State, indiscriminately targeting residents and burning down numerous houses, causing severe damage to local communities.
In November 2025, a Catholic school in Niger State in north-central Nigeria was attacked by an armed group, and 303 students and 12 teachers were abducted in another incident. Just four days before this mass abduction, there had been another incident in Niger State and neighboring Kebbi State, in which 25 children were kidnapped.
These successive incidents are notable in that they differ in where they occur, who is involved, and what forms the violence takes: suicide bombings in urban areas, assaults by armed groups in rural communities, and kidnappings targeting schools. At first glance, these may seem like separate problems, but such acts of violence are occurring simultaneously across Nigeria.
Police on standby at a demonstration, 2024 (Photo: Tolu Owoeye / Shutterstock.com)
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Violence in Nigeria is not just one thing
An important point in understanding Nigeria’s security problems is that they cannot be explained by a single cause or phenomenon. Terrorism, crime, ethnic conflict, religious conflict, and political violence all coexist, simultaneously influencing one another. In other words, the violence occurring in one region is not unrelated to problems in another, and may in fact be interlinked. Nigeria’s situation is best understood as a complex crisis, in which conflict, poverty, food insecurity, and other factors overlap. This term refers to a state in which multiple crises unfold at the same time and worsen each other through mutual interaction.
For example, violence by extremist groups in the northeast has produced a large number of internally displaced persons. When people who have lost their homes and livelihoods move to other regions, new social tensions arise in the communities that receive them. The growing number of displaced people also strains urban infrastructure and labor markets, further expanding poverty and unemployment. Such conditions become fertile ground for young people to be recruited into armed groups or criminal organizations, fueling a vicious cycle of violence.
Equally important is the fact that the forms of violence themselves are changing. In the past, instability in Nigeria was often explained in terms of extremist groups. In recent years, however, kidnapping and looting by armed bandits, especially in the northwest, have surged, becoming entrenched as a ransom-based “business.” This criminal violence is characterized by economic rather than ideological motives and is expanding according to a logic distinct from terrorism. At the same time, the profits are used to procure weapons and expand organizations, ultimately linking this violence to terroristic activity. In this way, different types of violence transcend boundaries and become interconnected, making the situation even more complex.
The limitations of the state’s governing capacity are another key factor. Nigeria lies in the center of the African continent, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf of Guinea to the south, Benin to the west, Niger to the north, Chad to the northeast, and Cameroon to the east. Covering a vast 924,000 km² (31st largest in the world) and with a population of more than 240 million, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and the world’s sixth most populous nation. The state is made up of highly diverse ethnic and religious groups, with over 250 ethnic communities and more than 500 languages, and with Muslims and Christians existing in almost equal proportions. It is, in other words, an extremely diverse society.
Under the legacy of colonial rule and subsequent military regimes, the foundation of governance institutions in Nigeria has never been fully established. At the same time, its fiscal base is fragile due to an economic structure dependent on oil revenues extracted by foreign companies. Combined with widespread poverty, this has created a situation in which the state struggles to provide adequate public services or maintain security. In addition, serious corruption and governance problems are often cited as undermining the rule of law and public trust in institutions.
In rural and peripheral areas in particular, the presence of police and administrative agencies is thin, and residents often have no choice but to rely on self-defense, informal authorities, or even armed groups in many cases. Such conditions open greater space for armed groups and criminal organizations to operate.
Therefore, the types of violence discussed so far cannot be understood in isolation as individual crimes; they are instead manifestations of broader, overlapping social, political, and economic problems. They arise where terrorism, crime, social inequality, weak governance, and political distrust intertwine. Violence in Nigeria is not a collection of isolated events, but a structure of interlinked phenomena, and without grasping this whole picture it is impossible to get at the essence of the problem.
A country where school kidnappings recur
A defining event symbolizing the intersecting problems of education and security in Nigeria is the April 2014 kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. In this incident, 276 girls were taken from their school dormitories by the armed group, and over ten years later about 100 of them are still believed to be missing. The abductions drew global attention, and protests spread worldwide. The “Bring Back Our Girls” movement emerged on social media, and prominent figures from other countries joined in, amplifying its social impact. A victim support group using the slogan was also established.
Even after many years have passed since the Chibok abductions, school kidnappings have not stopped. In addition to the school abduction cases mentioned at the beginning of this article, in March 2024 an armed group attacked a school in northern Nigeria and abducted hundreds of students in another incident, inflicting severe psychological and social harm on children, their families, and communities.
Mass kidnapping remains a defining feature of Nigeria’s security landscape. The impact of such abductions extends far beyond the victims and their families. Attending school itself comes to be seen as dangerous, and loss of educational opportunities spreads. In some areas, schools have been repeatedly closed or suspended, leaving children cut off from education. Education is, in principle, an essential element for escaping poverty and stabilizing society, yet it has become a source of risk instead.
Violence in Nigeria is not a single phenomenon; multiple forms of violence coexist, differing by region. Below, we outline the characteristics and background of violence in each area.
Northeast: Extremist groups and the Boko Haram conflict
In northeastern Nigeria, armed activities by extremist groups have persisted for many years. Among them, Boko Haram, which claims to uphold Islamic teachings, rose to prominence in the late 2000s. Guided by the ideology that “Western education is sinful,” it has repeatedly attacked schools, government institutions, and religious facilities. This ideology is not merely a religious claim; it carries political implications that reject the legitimacy of the state itself. Attacks on the education system are a symbolic manifestation of that stance. The group’s brutality was brought to global attention by the 2014 Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping, which underscored that the right to education itself was under assault.
It is also crucial to note that Boko Haram is not monolithic. In 2016, internal tensions led the organization to split, and it is now divided primarily into two factions: “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS)” and the “Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).” According to analysis by the International Crisis Group (ICG), ISWAP is more organized and governance-oriented, providing certain administrative functions to local populations, whereas JAS tends to engage in more extreme and indiscriminate violence.
Hospital destroyed in a Boko Haram attack, 2015 (Photo: ConDevCenter / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])
This split has not reduced violence; instead, it has fueled competitive brutality. As rival factions vie for influence, attacks have intensified and regional instability has grown. Research on Borno State points out that the protracted conflict is destroying the very fabric of society, dealing serious blows to education, healthcare, agriculture, and other basic systems.
As a result, millions have been displaced internally, and the humanitarian crisis has become chronic. A report by the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia also notes that violence in the northeast has severely hindered regional development, turning the conflict into an issue that goes beyond security and threatens the survival of society as a whole.
Northwest: Kidnapping business and armed bandits
In discussing recent destabilization in Nigeria, one of the most striking developments is the spread of kidnapping in the northwest. Unlike ideologically driven extremist groups such as Boko Haram, this region is dominated by groups known as “bandits.” Rather than upholding specific religious or political doctrines, they are primarily motivated by economic gain, financing themselves through village raids, looting, and ransom from kidnappings for profit.
What is particularly serious is that kidnapping has become structured and functions as a “business.” According to analysis by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), a think tank that examines democracy and security in West Africa, kidnapping is a relatively low-cost yet highly lucrative crime, expanding rapidly in areas with weak security. As their analysis explains, ransom payments are reinvested in weapons and organizational maintenance, creating a structure that sustains continued violence.
Shelter facility for displaced people, 2020 (Photo: Public Services International / Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])
This violence is not merely criminal; it also has a profound impact on society at large. A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) points out that kidnapping and armed violence have extensive negative effects on residents’ lives, health, and access to education. People’s movements are restricted, farming and trade slow down, and local economies are severely damaged.
The reasons schools are targeted differ depending on the actors involved. For extremist organizations like Boko Haram, holding children hostage exerts strong psychological pressure on the government and local communities and serves as a strategic means to reject the education system itself, as UNICEF notes. Attacking schools—spaces that should be protected—spreads fear throughout society and is also seen as a way to deepen distrust in the state’s ability to govern.
By contrast, for bandits operating in the northwest and elsewhere, kidnapping is primarily an economic activity aimed at ransom. Yet when schools are targeted, the result is similarly the spread of social anxiety and fear, and rising distrust in state authority. Thus, although motives differ by actor, kidnapping in both cases goes beyond simple criminal behavior and becomes a phenomenon with political and social ramifications.
In this way, violence in the northwest expands not as terrorism per se, but through its connection to weak state governance. Its impact extends across many domains—education, the economy, and security—accelerating instability throughout Nigeria.
A vigilante guarding a school, 2015 (Photo: ConDevCenter / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])
Central region: Clashes between farmers and herders
Nigeria faces other forms of violence as well. In the central region, clashes between farmers and herders have become a grave issue. While herders move seasonally with their livestock, farmers are sedentary and cultivate land, making disputes over the use of land and water structurally likely. Although such tensions have existed historically, both the scale and frequency of clashes have expanded markedly in recent years. Between 2019 and 2025, more than 2.2 million people were forced to flee, and several thousand deaths have been reported. What were once small-scale confrontations have in many cases evolved into organized violence involving firearms, meaning that the very nature of the conflict has changed.
One factor behind this escalation is environmental and social change, including climate change. Rising temperatures and increasingly erratic rainfall in the north have reduced land suitable for farming and grazing, intensifying competition over resources available. As a result, herders have tended to alter traditional migration routes and move further south.
However, climate change alone cannot explain this conflict. Inadequate land management and security policies, rapid population growth, and increasing militarization have all combined to exacerbate clashes, as Human Rights Watch notes. In fact, the Nigerian government has been criticized for delayed and insufficient responses that have allowed the conflict to spiral.
Nor is this conflict merely about resources. In Nigeria’s so-called “Middle Belt”, farmers and herders often come from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and clashes are easily framed as identity-based conflict. For example, many farmers are Christians whereas many herders are Muslims, so the violence is frequently portrayed as religious strife.
A boy tending cattle (Photo: Ikani / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0])
Another important element is the cycle of revenge that takes hold as violence continues. One attack leads to retaliation, which in turn triggers further violence, producing a self-perpetuating cycle. Under such conditions, local clashes can quickly escalate into large-scale bloodshed.
As a result, the central region is trapped in a state of chronic instability, and many residents have been forced to flee. The economic impact is also severe, including declining agricultural output and growing food shortages. Instability in this region therefore affects not only Nigeria’s overall security but also national food security. In that sense, the conflict should be seen not just as a local issue, but as a national-level challenge.
Political violence and distrust of the state
Underlying these multiple forms of violence are distrust in politics and shortcomings in state governance. For many years, Nigeria has faced structural problems including corruption by political elites, electoral fraud, and abuses of power and human rights violations by security agencies such as the police. Human Rights Watch has documented how politicians introduce violence and fraud into electoral processes and prop them up through corruption, and has also reported widespread human rights abuses within the police, including bribery, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
An emblematic event was the 2020 “EndSARS” movement. This nationwide protest, driven mainly by youth, arose in opposition to violence and misconduct by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police. Initially peaceful, the protests partly escalated into riots due to the government’s response, including deployment of security forces and restrictions on demonstrations, as analyses have noted.
“Do not kill us!” Protest against the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, 2020 (Photo: femi komolafe / Shutterstock.com)
Political violence is also prominent around elections. According to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an NGO that collects and analyzes real-time information on conflicts, riots, and demonstrations worldwide, Nigeria sees an increase in violent incidents during election periods. Conflicts between political factions and frustrations over fraud often erupt into violence. This erodes trust in democratic processes themselves.
Crucially, such political instability connects with other forms of violence. When the state fails to maintain security, armed groups and criminal organizations find it easier to expand their influence. As citizens lose faith in the state, they turn toward self-defense, arm themselves, or rely on informal power structures, which further spreads violence. Thus, political distrust is not an isolated problem but a key factor linking various patterns of violence in Nigeria.
Distrust in politics and the state is also closely tied to the management and distribution of natural resources. In particular, the Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria faces serious conflict over oil. Although it is the heart of Nigeria’s oil production, the benefits are not adequately returned to local communities, and environmental degradation and poverty are worsening. Against this backdrop of discontent, the 2000s saw the rise of armed groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which attacked oil facilities and carried out kidnappings of foreign workers. Although such violence has been somewhat contained in recent years, structural problems—including unequal distribution of resource revenues and government corruption—remain unresolved and are important factors in understanding Nigeria’s instability.
The spread of violence and humanitarian crisis
Why, then, do such diverse forms of violence occur simultaneously in Nigeria? Structural factors lie behind this pattern: rapid population growth, youth unemployment, limitations in state capacity, and the inflow of weapons through regional conflicts, among others.
When examining instability in Nigeria, it is not sheer population size or ethnic and religious diversity that are most significant, but the deepening poverty and unequal distribution of resources under those conditions. Despite its abundant oil reserves and episodes of economic growth, Nigeria’s prosperity has not been broadly shared. Many people still live in poverty, and youth unemployment and underemployment are grave problems.
People lining up at a polling station, 2023 (Photo: Gregade / Shutterstock.com)
Historical factors also underpin this situation: Britain’s colonial unification of diverse regions into a single state, and the subsequent unequal distribution of resources across different areas under military rule. Even today, much of the oil revenue continues to flow to multinational corporations and domestic political and economic elites, with insufficient returns to local communities. This structure of inequality fosters distrust in the state and creates an environment in which joining armed groups or criminal networks can appear to be a viable economic choice.
In this sense, the limits of the state’s governing capacity are not merely administrative failings; they are a product of accumulated poverty and inequality.
What is particularly serious is the impact of this violence on society. Educational opportunities are constrained, food insecurity grows, and livelihoods become precarious. These problems reinforce each other, narrowing people’s options for the future. The effects are unlikely to be temporary; they may persist across generations.
Nigeria plays a crucial role in the stability of West Africa. Its destabilization can spill over into neighboring countries and affect regional security as a whole. Repeated kidnappings and armed clashes reveal only part of the country’s challenges, behind which lie deeply intertwined structural factors.
Terrorism, crime, ethnic conflict, competition over resources, and political distrust—all of these interact to generate violence in a “multi-layered” structure. How can that structure be dismantled? The question is not only vital for Nigeria but also for West Africa and many other regions around the world. Nigeria’s future depends on whether it can overcome this complex chain of violence.
Writer: Angela Kim
Graphics: A. Ishida
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