Poverty and Inequality Driving Surge in Terrorism and Banditry, Says Atedo Peterside

Atedo Peterside, President of ANAP Foundation and founder of IBTC Bank, has attributed the recent surge in terrorism and banditry across Nigeria to poverty, income inequality, and lack of education.

Speaking on Prime Time, a programme on Arise Television monitored by DAILY POST on Monday, Peterside explained that the country’s socioeconomic conditions make some citizens highly vulnerable to recruitment by criminal and terrorist groups.

“Sometimes you can have an economy where the big guns are doing very well, their income is going up in the stock market and all, but I’m referring to the 140 million poor people. That is where the problem is. Nigeria clearly has an income distribution problem,” Peterside said.

He highlighted the stark contrast between the country’s wealthy elite and the masses living in poverty, warning that such disparity creates social tension and poses security risks. “We have the very wealthy, and we have the phenomenally poor, and you cannot have equilibrium when there are so many poor people around you,” he said.

While he stressed that poverty alone does not automatically lead to insecurity or banditry, Peterside noted that it creates fertile ground for recruitment into criminal activities. “For the bandits, for the terrorist poor people, whom the state is offering next to nothing, some of them can be easily recruited. So they become the potential future bandits and the future terrorists,” he explained.

Peterside also drew attention to education as a major factor in national insecurity, citing Nigeria’s 30 million out-of-school children. “People who are not educated are increasingly difficult to integrate into a modern economy. If they cannot do a proper job, they also become targets for bandits and terrorists,” he said.

He urged the government to address these underlying social issues, questioning the leadership’s response to growing insecurity. “We have a serious problem on hand. So how can the President sit pretty?” he asked.

Peterside’s comments highlight the complex links between economic inequality, lack of educational opportunities, and insecurity, adding to growing concerns among analysts that without systemic interventions, Nigeria’s security challenges could intensify.