ABUJA How Nigeria’s banditry evolved

NIGERIA'S countryside is under growing threat from gangs of armed criminal “bandits”, who have in recent years proven more deadly than the west African nation’s jihadist insurgency.

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Earlier in July, at least 40 people were killed in central Plateau state, while last week nine farmers were killed and more than a dozen kidnapped in northwestern Zamfara state. In May, 5 000 fled their homes in Sokoto.

Originating in the northwest, the gangs have spread throughout the country, with swathes of rural Nigeria now confronted with kidnappings for ransom and deadly village raids from criminals focused primarily on one thing: money.

This is a break down of the evolution of Nigeria's banditry crisis.

Banditry grew out of land conflicts between farmers and herders:

As land degradation linked to climate change made suitable space for farming and grazing even more scarce, violence escalated, with attacks and reprisals falling along ethnic lines.