Allowing bandits to keep weapons during negotiations counterproductive – Gov Lawal

Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State says peace negotiations that allow armed groups to retain their weapons is counterproductive and erode the authority of the state.

Lawal stated this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture to participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course, EIMC, 18 at the National Institute for Security Studies, NISS, in Abuja.

A statement by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris, said the lecture was titled ‘Non-state Actors in Security Management: Issues, Challenges, and Prospects for Peace and Development in Africa – A Zamfara State Perspective’.

According to the statement, the participants included officials from Nigeria’s security agencies and counterparts from Chad, Ghana, Rwanda, Somalia, and Gambia.

The governor stated that the forum offered a chance to reflect on Zamfara’s experience, which mirrors broader security and development challenges across Africa.

He pointed out that Africa’s security landscape has evolved over the past two decades, with the monopoly of force once held by the state increasingly contested by non-state actors.

“The idea that the state has exclusive control over the use of force is being challenged by community vigilantes, civil defence groups, insurgents, bandits, and transnational criminal networks,” he said.