North-Central Nigeria's Descent into Chaos Amid Government Paralysis

The report examines the systematic violence in Nigeria's North-Central region, specifically Benue and Plateau states, where armed herder militias have targeted farming communities. It attributes the persistence of this violence to state failure, operational deficiencies in security agencies, and a lack of political will to enforce laws like Benue's Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law. The author highlights specific massacres in 2023 and 2025 as evidence of a campaign of forced displacement and killing. To resolve the crisis, the document recommends moving beyond symbolic presidential gestures toward technological surveillance, the establishment of state-level policing, a nationwide disarmament programme, and the prosecution of sponsors behind the attacks.

• Violence in North-Central Nigeria, particularly in Benue and Plateau states, has evolved from resource disputes over land and water into large-scale criminal violence driven by climate pressures, population growth, ethnic-religious tensions, and state failure.
• Recent atrocities include the December 2023 Christmas massacres in Plateau State, where nearly 200 people were killed, and the June 2025 massacre in Yelwata, Benue State, which resulted in over 100 deaths.
• The Nigerian state is criticized for relying on 'symbolic gestures' and 'political theatre'—such as high-level security visits—rather than operational competence, leading to a breakdown of trust and a legitimacy crisis.
• Security failures are exacerbated by a disparity in weaponry, where local vigilantes using locally made rifles cannot compete with the military-grade weapons of attackers, and a failure by agencies to intercept convoys of motorcycles.
• The report recommends several structural interventions: the enforcement of the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law, the use of drones and satellite imagery for surveillance, the creation of state or multilevel policing, and a federal-level judicial inquiry to prosecute the sponsors of the violence.

APA

Samuel, M. (2025). North-Central Nigeria's Descent into Chaos Amid Government Paralysis. Good Governance Africa. https://gga.org/north-central-nigerias-descent-into-chaos-amid-government-paralysis/

Chicago

Samuel, Malik. North-Central Nigeria's Descent into Chaos Amid Government Paralysis. Good Governance Africa, 2025. https://gga.org/north-central-nigerias-descent-into-chaos-amid-government-paralysis/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Samuel |first1=Malik |title=North-Central Nigeria's Descent into Chaos Amid Government Paralysis |publisher=Good Governance Africa |date=1 July 2025 |url=https://gga.org/north-central-nigerias-descent-into-chaos-amid-government-paralysis/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{samuel2025northcentral, author = {Samuel, Malik}, title = {{North-Central Nigeria's Descent into Chaos Amid Government Paralysis}}, institution = {Good Governance Africa}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://gga.org/north-central-nigerias-descent-into-chaos-amid-government-paralysis/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }