‘Nigeria needs structural reforms that will offer an alternative to organised criminal networks’

As Nigeria’s evolving security crisis pivots from ideological terrorism to organised crime, Mark Owen welcomes Dr Douglas Yates, Author, Political Scientist and Professor specialising in Africa at the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy (AGSIRD) and CY Cergy Paris Université. The new criminal activity threatening the very security of Nigeria and its people signal a deeper breakdown in social and economic structures. As organised groups like Boko Haram fade, new threats emerge: decentralised bandits driven by poverty, climate stress, and lack of opportunity. Dr. Yates warns that without long-term development and regional integration, policing alone will never solve the crisis.