Nigeria’s mass atrocities: How did we get here & how do we get out?

Kidnappings, clashes between farmers/herders, criminal gangs. government complicity….how did Nigeria get to this point? And what can be done to stop the cycle?

A recent report released by the Nigeria-based Global Rights organisation, entitled ‘Mass Atrocities 2020 Tracking’ states 4,556 people were killed in 2020 between January and December.

That’s a 43% jump from the number of casualties in 2019.

Of that number, 3,188 were civilians, and 698 were state security agents.

Borno state in the North East had the highest number of fatalities followed by Kaduna state in the North West.

As the authors of the report point out: “[…] the swiftest method for determining a nation’s propensity for violence, is to measure how its most vulnerable are faring.”

Our podcast this week will speak to contributors to the report on Nigeria’s proliferating security clashes to better understand what has led to this spike in violence, and what can be done to address them.

Mediated by our own Patrick Smith, we discuss the report with Abiodun Baiyewu, the Executive Director of Global Rights and co-chair of the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability and Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, the chair of Global Rights and until recently chaired the governing council of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission. (Theafricareport)