INVESTIGATION: Nigeria's Highways of Fear

 INVESTIGATION: Nigeria's Highways of Fear — How Banditry Has Turned the North into a No-Go Zone

By AfriWatch Investigative Desk | April 11, 2026 | Special Investigation

This is an AfriWatch Special Investigation. It draws on data from security researchers, academic studies, survivor testimonies, and field reports from across northern Nigeria.

Every day, millions of Nigerians climb into buses, taxis, and private cars to travel across the country. For those in the south, the journey may be uncomfortable or slow. For those in the North, it could be their last.

Nigeria's northern highways have become some of the most dangerous roads on the African continent — not because of poor road conditions alone, but because of a sprawling, sophisticated criminal enterprise that has turned travel into a gamble with life itself.

Bandits. Kidnappers. Armed robbers. Call them what you will — they are now the de facto rulers of vast stretches of highway across Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Niger, and Plateau states, operating with a boldness that suggests they fear neither government nor God.

AfriWatch investigates how this crisis started, how bad it has become, and why — despite years of government promises — the roads of the North remain soaked in blood.

The Scale of the Crisis: Numbers That Should Shock Every Nigerian

The statistics are staggering — and they tell a story of a crisis that has been allowed to spiral out of control.

Between 2010 and May 2023, approximately 13,485 deaths were attributed to banditry across Nigeria, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). And that figure almost certainly underestimates the true toll — many attacks go unreported, particularly in remote communities where victims have no access to media or law enforcement.

Between 2018 and 2020 alone, at least 4,900 people were killed by armed bandits, with hundreds of thousands more displaced from their homes and communities.

In the North-West, an estimated 30,000 bandits operate across numerous groups, with some individual gangs numbering over 1,000 fighters. In Zamfara State alone, there are believed to be over 100 bandit camps hidden deep in forests that span thousands of square kilometres.

The kidnapping economy is equally alarming. Between 2011 and 2020, Nigerians paid at least ₦18 billion in ransom to free abducted family members. Between 2017 and 2025, ransom payments were estimated to be worth around $15 million. And according to a Lagos-based risk assessment firm SBM, around 15,000 kidnappings were recorded between 2019 and 2025 — the majority in northern states.

These are not just numbers. Every figure represents a family torn apart, a ransom scraped together from everything a household owned, or a body never brought home.

The Roads They Have Taken Over

Not all roads are equal in Nigeria's north. Some have become so dangerous they are effectively controlled by criminal gangs. AfriWatch maps the deadliest corridors:

Abuja–Kaduna Highway

Once the primary road linking the nation's capital to the North-West, this highway has been described as one of the most dangerous roads in Nigeria. Armed groups emerge from surrounding forests to ambush vehicles, rob passengers, and seize hostages for ransom. In January 2026, 160 abducted worshippers were being held in the notorious Rijana Forest in Kaduna State — a major base where gangs hold hostages during ransom negotiations.

Funtua–Kankara Road, Katsina State

Local residents have named this route the "corridor of deaths." In 26 of Katsina's 34 local government areas, banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling are regular occurrences. The road passes through forests in Faskari and Rugu that provide cover for bandits who strike with near-total impunity.

Zamfara's Forest Highways

Zamfara State remains the heartland of banditry in Nigeria. Its vast forests — Bingi, Dansadau, Munhaye, and Sububu — connect to neighbouring states and the Niger Republic, providing safe havens for criminals who cross borders freely. Key roads including the Daki-Takwa–Gadar Zaima road, Zurmi–Jibiya road, and Shinkafi–Isah road are notorious hotspots.

Akwanga–Jos Highway, Plateau and Nasarawa

In the North-Central region, highways such as Keffi–Akwanga, Nasarawa Eggon–Lafia, and the Akwanga–Jos road are infamous for ambushes. Travellers — including students, civil servants, and market traders — have been abducted along these routes and held for weeks or months while desperate families scramble for ransom.

Who Are the Victims?

Bandits do not discriminate by status. Students, traders, farmers, civil servants, soldiers, and clergy have all fallen victim. But some groups face elevated risk.

Youth Corps Members

In January 2026, a 23-year-old graduate named Musa Usman Abba was kidnapped while travelling to begin his NYSC service year in Sokoto State. His captors demanded a ₦10 million ransom. Relatives reportedly paid — but the kidnappers then demanded three motorcycles more, raising fears he had been killed. His fate remains unknown.

Fatima Bello, a former corps member who served in Katsina State, described being ambushed near Zamfara. "They took our phones and called our families," she said. "We were released after 14 days only when ₦5 million ransom was paid."

Schoolchildren

More than 2,200 children have been kidnapped from schools over the past decade. In 2025 alone, over 600 school kidnappings were recorded in northern and north-central states. In November 2025, at least 402 people — mostly schoolchildren — were abducted across four states in a single month, surpassing the infamous 2014 Chibok girls abduction in scale.

Ordinary Travellers and Worshippers

In early 2026, over 160 worshippers were abducted in late January. On February 3, an armed group attacked two villages in Kwara State, killing over 160 people and abducting dozens in what is considered one of the deadliest attacks in Nigeria in recent months.

How the Criminal Economy Works

What makes Nigeria's banditry crisis so difficult to defeat is that it is no longer simply about opportunistic robbery. It has evolved into a sophisticated criminal economy with multiple income streams.

Researchers and security analysts describe a system where bandit kingpins — some of whom are now full-time arms dealers — generate income through ransom payments, cattle rustling, illegal gold mining, protection levies imposed on communities, forced taxation of farmers, mercenary killings, and cross-border arms and drug trafficking.

Communities that resist paying "protection levies" face devastating raids. Those that comply are effectively enslaved — forced to provide food, logistics, and even intelligence to bandit groups.

In certain forest corridors, weapons have become easier to obtain than food. There are an estimated 60,000 illegal weapons currently in circulation in North-West Nigeria alone. Bandit groups control illegal gold mines and use the proceeds to purchase arms from both local and international dealers. Nigeria's borders are barely defended — with only 1,950 personnel to police the country's entire northern border.

Why Has the Government Failed?

This is the question every Nigerian deserves an answer to.

Successive governments — federal and state — have tried multiple approaches: military offensives, airstrikes, dialogue, amnesty, and state police. None has delivered lasting peace.

Military operations have sometimes made things worse. When security forces cracked down on the Abuja–Kaduna highway, bandits simply moved operations to the Kaduna–Kajuru–Kachia route and adjacent communities, which then saw a surge in kidnappings.

Airstrikes have at times been catastrophically misdirected. In December 2023, an accidental military drone strike on Tudun Biri in Kaduna State killed at least 88 civilians. In January 2023, Nigerian military strikes killed 40 civilian herders in the North-Central zone.

Dialogue has also failed repeatedly. Several state governments struck peace deals with bandit leaders, only for attacks to resume weeks or months later. Critics argue that amnesty payments and negotiations have emboldened rather than deterred bandit groups.

At the root of the crisis, analysts point to a toxic combination: poverty, unemployment, weak institutions, porous borders, climate change driving competition over land, and decades of neglect of the rural North. "Banditry is both a product and a driver of broader governance and development failures," concluded a 2026 academic study on Nigeria's kidnapping crisis.

The Human Cost Beyond the Headlines

Statistics can numb. But the human cost of this crisis goes far beyond the dead and kidnapped.

Entire farming communities have been abandoned as residents flee bandit-controlled areas. Food production has collapsed across large parts of the North, contributing to rising food prices nationwide. Markets have emptied, trade routes have closed, and schools that haven't been attacked remain shuttered out of fear.

According to one risk assessment firm, insecurity has caused "indirect declines in GDP across entire regions." The communities most affected are also the poorest — people with the least ability to absorb the shock of losing a harvest, a livestock herd, or a breadwinner to ransom demands.

"Communities live in constant fear, with deep trauma and severe social fragmentation," one journalist told researchers. "Those who can afford it pay tribute to survive."

What Must Be Done: AfriWatch's Findings

Based on our investigation, AfriWatch identifies five urgent actions that Nigeria's government must take:

1. Secure the Borders

With only 1,950 border personnel covering the entire northern frontier, illegal weapons flow in virtually unchecked. Dramatically increasing border security must be a priority.

2. Target the Criminal Economy

Disrupting ransom payment networks, illegal gold mining operations, and cross-border arms supply chains — not just attacking foot soldiers — is essential to dismantling banditry at its roots.

3. Invest in the Rural North

Poverty and unemployment are the soil in which banditry grows. Without serious investment in education, agriculture, and economic opportunity in rural northern communities, security gains will always be temporary.

4. Protect Schools and Highways

Dedicated security details on the most dangerous highways, and permanent security presence around schools in high-risk areas, are non-negotiable. No child should be afraid to go to school. No Nigerian should be afraid to travel.

5. Accountability for Security Failures

Military operations that kill civilians must be investigated and prosecuted. State governors whose communities are under siege must be held accountable. The era of press conferences with no results must end.

A Nation at a Crossroads

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and its largest economy. It has the potential to be a continental superpower. But a nation where millions of citizens cannot safely travel their own roads, send their children to school, or farm their own land is a nation in crisis.

The bandits of the North are not invincible. They are the product of failures — of governance, of investment, of justice, and of political will. Those failures can be reversed.

But only if Nigeria's leaders — and its citizens — demand it.

AfriWatch will continue to report on Nigeria's security crisis until every road in this country is safe to travel.

Do you have information, experiences, or tips related to banditry and highway crime in northern Nigeria? Contact AfriWatch in confidence at afriwatchglobal.blogspot.com. Your identity will be protected.

This investigation was produced by the AfriWatch Investigative Desk. Sources include ACLED data, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, SBM Intelligence, TruthNigeria, The New Humanitarian, and survivor testimonies.