{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T14:11:08Z","timestamp":1784815868519,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Koozakar LLC","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JEPSD"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Insecurity remains a critical test of state capacity, territorial authority and social order in contemporary Nigeria, with banditry emerging as a destructive form of armed predation, criminal enterprise, rural vulnerability and institutional fragility. This study examined public perceptions of the drivers, consequences and possible responses to banditry in Nigeria using open-ended phone interviews and written chat-based responses from 40 adult respondents. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, and the data were analyzed thematically. The analysis produced six major themes: governance failure, weak security and corruption; socioeconomic vulnerability and youth recruitment; farmer-herder conflict, revenge and rural grievance transformation; illegal arms, porous borders and criminal economies; disruption of everyday human security; and community roles and multi-level policy response. Findings show that respondents did not interpret banditry merely as episodic criminality, but as a systemic human-security crisis sustained by weak state protection, corruption, arms proliferation, criminal economies, rural livelihood collapse and declining confidence in formal institutions. The study contributes to the literature by foregrounding public narratives as interpretive evidence of how citizens connect insecurity to governance failure, livelihood disruption, institutional distrust and the erosion of everyday safety. It concludes that addressing banditry in Nigeria requires an integrated, rights-respecting and intelligence-led response that combines lawful security operations, border management, prosecution of perpetrators and collaborators, school and farm protection, victim support, youth livelihood interventions and accountable community policing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.69798\/38045724","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T13:58:46Z","timestamp":1784815126000},"page":"35-49","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Banditry, Governance Failure and Human Security in Nigeria: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Public Perceptions"],"prefix":"10.69798","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-7855-3434","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Koleayo","family":"Omoyajowo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6828-6605","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebecca","family":"Alao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-0517-3877","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Augustine","family":"Omoyajowo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6923-664X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aishat","family":"Abdulraheem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"50185","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"container-title":["Journal of Ecopolitics, Peace, and Sustainable Development"],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T13:58:47Z","timestamp":1784815127000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/koozakar.com\/journals\/article\/KJ-09381439"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.69798\/38045724","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]}}}