ThThe Kaduna–Abuja expressway today ranks among Nigeria’s most feared roads. Travellers on this strategic corridor often adopt defensive rituals, travelling in convoys, concealing valuables, or avoiding the road entirely. Reports of armed ambushes and abductions have turned this once-busy highway into a symbol of national insecurity. Yet, this modern crisis is not without precedent. Highway banditry in northern Nigeria is part of a much longer story of insecurity along trade routes, stretching back centuries.
Precolonial Roots of Banditry.
In northern Nigeria, long-distance trade routes were historically central to economic life. Merchants moving salt from the Sahara, gold from the west, or kola nuts from the south often faced the threat of raiders. Caravan travellers employed armed escorts, while rulers attempted to impose order. However, suppression was inconsistent. In some cases, raiding groups were taxed, co-opted, or tolerated by local authorities. Thus, banditry existed in tension with state control, rather than always in outright opposition to it.
The Colonial Disruption.
The arrival of British colonial rule at the turn of the twentieth century reshaped these dynamics. By the 1920s–1930s, colonial authorities built motorable roads to connect northern agricultural zones, especially groundnut and cotton belts, with ports and southern markets. These new highways boosted commerce but also created fresh opportunities for robbery. Criminal groups adapted from raiding camel caravans to targeting lorries, buses, and cars.
Colonial policing reduced but never eliminated roadside attacks. Archival reports describe instances of “bush robbers” ambushing vehicles in sparsely patrolled areas. Thus, the roots of modern highway robbery can be traced back to this period of infrastructural change.
Post-Colonial Nigeria and the Civil War Legacy.
Following independence in 1960, rapid urbanisation and the expansion of intercity travel placed highways at the centre of Nigeria’s economy. The Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) further intensified insecurity by flooding the country with small arms. Many of these weapons leaked into criminal hands, fuelling a surge of violent armed robbery in the 1970s.
This period produced infamous figures such as Ishola Oyenusi, executed publicly at Bar Beach in Lagos in 1971. Although Oyenusi operated in the south, his notoriety reflected a nationwide crisis. Armed robbery became pervasive across Nigeria, north and south alike, illustrating how post-war militarisation and weak policing allowed crime to flourish.
Highway Robbery in the 1970s–1980s.
By the late 1970s, reports of highway ambushes were frequent. Robbers often blocked roads with logs or abandoned vehicles, forcing cars and buses to stop before attacking passengers. Newspapers chronicled incidents across the country, including northern states where vast stretches of sparsely policed roads made travellers vulnerable.
Although some rumours suggested tightly organised cartels, most evidence points instead to loose gangs who formed and disbanded opportunistically. These networks occasionally spanned state boundaries but rarely achieved the sophistication of organised syndicates.
Drivers of Highway Crime.
Several structural conditions underpinned this wave of highway insecurity:
- Poverty and climate pressures: Desertification and poor harvests in parts of the north undermined rural livelihoods.
- Youth unemployment: Education expanded, but formal job opportunities remained scarce, leaving a pool of disaffected young men.
- Communal conflicts: Herders–farmers disputes eroded local security systems, creating safe havens for bandits.
- Arms proliferation: Beyond Nigeria’s civil war, regional conflicts in Chad and Libya during the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the flow of weapons into Nigeria.
5. The Kaduna–Abuja Highway: From Sporadic Attacks to Notorious Danger.
Although incidents of robbery occurred on the Kaduna–Abuja corridor in the 1990s, the route did not yet carry the reputation it holds today. Its notoriety as Nigeria’s most dangerous highway solidified only after 2015, when attacks escalated sharply and kidnapping for ransom became frequent. The difference lay not only in scale but also in the transformation of tactics.
The Insurgency Factor.
The Boko Haram insurgency, beginning in 2009, reshaped northern Nigeria’s security landscape. Although Boko Haram itself pursued ideological and political goals, the chaos it unleashed, mass displacement, porous borders, and the circulation of arms, provided fertile ground for criminality.
Crucially, most highway robberies were not directly orchestrated by Boko Haram. However, the weakened security apparatus they left behind created the perfect environment for other groups to thrive. Some bandits adopted insurgent rhetoric to instil fear, but their motivations remained overwhelmingly economic.
From Robbery to Kidnapping.
By the 2010s, highway robbery increasingly gave way to kidnapping for ransom. Rather than simply looting valuables, attackers began abducting travellers and holding them in forests until ransom was paid. This shift dramatically raised the stakes, financially and psychologically. Families drained their savings, while fear of travel gripped communities.
It is important to distinguish between insurgent-led kidnappings, such as the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction in 2014 by Boko Haram, and bandit-led kidnappings that surged after 2018 in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, and along the Kaduna–Abuja axis. While both shaped national debates, their origins and logics were distinct.
Economic and Social Consequences.
Highway insecurity has had wide-ranging effects:
Economic disruption: Transport costs rose as drivers hired escorts or avoided certain roads, while farmers struggled to move produce, worsening food inflation.
Social change: Families curtailed long-distance travel, weakening cultural, religious, and business ties. A “convoy culture” developed, where people relied on numbers for safety.
Gendered vulnerabilities: Women faced heightened risks of sexual violence during abductions.
Erosion of trust: Government failure to secure roads has undermined faith in state authority.
Contemporary Challenges.
Despite military deployments and police crackdowns, northern highways remain dangerous. Criminal groups exploit forests as hideouts, use GSM phones for ransom negotiations, and disperse rapidly after attacks. Contrary to some exaggerated reports, they rarely employ advanced digital technology.
Underlying drivers, poverty, unemployment, arms trafficking, and weak state presence, remain unresolved. In response, vigilante and community defence groups have proliferated. While sometimes effective, they also contribute to cycles of revenge violence, complicating the security landscape.
Author’s Note.
Highway robbery and kidnapping in northern Nigeria are part of a long continuum of insecurity on trade routes, stretching from caravan raids to modern-day abductions. What has changed is not the existence of banditry, but its form, scale, and the stakes involved. Addressing today’s crisis requires more than military action: it demands rural development, youth employment, arms control, and rebuilding trust between communities and the state.
References.
l Okoli, A. C., & Okpaleke, F. N. (2014). Banditry and Crisis of Public Safety in Nigeria: Issues and Trends. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science.
Ekwueme, C., & Akpan, U. (2011). Armed Robbery and Highway Crime in Nigeria: Causes and Consequences. African Journal of Criminology.
Amnesty International. (2020). We Dried Our Tears: Addressing the Toll on Children of North-east Nigeria’s Conflict.
