President of the ANAP Foundation and Founder of IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside, has explained the factors driving the rise in terrorism and banditry across Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview on Monday, Peterside said widespread poverty and inequality have made many Nigerians vulnerable to recruitment by criminal and extremist groups.
According to him, Nigeria suffers from a severe income distribution problem, with a sharp contrast between extreme wealth and deep poverty.
“Sometimes you have an economy where the big players are doing very well, benefiting from the stock market and other opportunities. But I am talking about the over 140 million poor people. That is where the real problem lies,” he said.
Peterside noted that a society cannot remain stable when a small group is extremely wealthy while millions live in poverty.
“We have the very wealthy and the phenomenally poor. You cannot have equilibrium in such a situation. That is why it worries me when wealthy people assume everything will be fine indefinitely while hundreds of millions around them struggle to survive,” he added.
While stressing that poverty alone does not automatically lead to insecurity, Peterside said many poor people, abandoned by the state, are easily drawn into banditry and terrorism.
“I’m not equating poverty directly with insecurity, but it is obvious that when the state offers people next to nothing, some of them can be easily recruited. They become potential bandits and terrorists,” he said.
He also raised concern over Nigeria’s large number of out-of-school children, estimated at 30 million, warning that the lack of education makes it difficult for them to be absorbed into a modern economy.