Banditry, institutional weakness and the Zamfara State amnesty programme

Abstract

This article demonstrates how institutional weakness makes amnesty, as a conflict management strategy, ineffective as found in Zamfara State; and how prioritising human security can help combat insecurity. Using Weak Institutions of State as a framework of analysis, the article argued that factors such as loss of territorial control or the sole use of force, crisis of legitimacy, mass poverty, corruption and inability to provide basic services to the citizens as characteristic of states with institutional weakness, create very complex security problems that amnesty is incapable of addressing effectively. Rather than mitigate insecurity, weak institutions in a state further fuel it by creating opportunities for both state and non-state actors to exploit the offer of amnesty for personal enrichment. This article adopted the documentary method of data collection, using deduction and inferences as analytical methods. Based on its findings, the study recommends the need for a more sustainable approach to conflict management that can benefit a larger number of citizens.