REVEALED: Cost of renting arms for bandits & their prices in Zamfara & Northwest in general

Indeed it is a daunting exercise to establish the exact price of arms used by the groups. This is because the end users have no direct access to the main area of supply, due to either lack of knowledge or fear of interception by the security personnel.

This added to the price of arms not only in Zamfara but affected states in the Northwest. The bandits have no option than to buy weapons at exorbitant prices. At the point of interviews, most of members of the armed groups could hardly tell the price of weapons used.

This is largely quantified and valued by either cattle or full-grown bull. Therefore, heads of cattle and an approximation of their age are often used to determine the price of a gun in rural Zamfara.

On the average, some gave out 2 to 3 heads of cattle for AK49 or their price equivalent. Some of the dealers and retailers collect cattle in return for arms.

Those that accept cattle, mostly Fulani retailers have the chances of getting more customers and huge profit margins than who only exchanged for money.

At any rate, if an ordinary non-bandit would acquire an AK47 at the rate ₦500,000 a bandit, particularly Fulani will get it at a higher price of ₦650,000 simply because of his desperation and illiteracy.

The price of a German made AK47 before the border closure in Zamfara ranged between ₦500,000- ₦600,000 depending on the suppliers. Igbo retailers seem to put higher prices, but with the border closure in 2019 and increase in exchange rate, the price increased to between ₦750,000 and ₦850,000.

After the year 2020, most of the groups began to use AK49, which at the moment cost about ₦1.2 million in the forest. During this period the use of rocket launcher, RPGs and APGs became common amongst the dominant gangs.

The conflict has in recent times made some gang leaders very rich through the illicit business of arms and banditry.

They often have multiple profits from the arms, their usage and sale of cattle, mostly stolen from the people which are exchanged for weapons.

Bandit leaders have acquired large herds of cattle through this illegal means and most of the herds are transported to the Middle Belt and the southern part of the country. In some cases, the herds were moved to Niger Republic and beyond.

It is important to stress that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) free movements of persons and animals across the member states has also facilitated not only the movement of arms but also rustled livestock across different borders.

Some of the gunrunners prefer to exchange guns for cattle due to issues of security. Afterwards all the livestock collected could easily be moved across the Nigerian borders for either sale or exchange for weapons.

This is what, according to repentant bandits, keeps the business relevant and booming over time.

The procurement of these deadly weapons is meant not only to fight the Nigeria security but also instill fear in the minds and hearts of their fellow cohorts. The power of a gang is largely determine by leadership and weapons.

Therefore, amongst the armed groups, it does not make much sense to acquire and hire arms, but to as well engage in arm raise with others, so as to scare your enemies away.

The increasing number of gang members and the corresponding demand for operations tools led to proliferation of gun retailers. Most repentant bandits and even non-bandits rent weapons to young bandits.

There is fixed price to each category of gun. Members could collect an Ak47 or Ak49 for daily use and return back after a particular mission. The rented gun could be also used for days or even weeks, each has a price.

With the use of rented gun young bandits have over time acquire their personal tools. An informant stated that he was renting at the initial stage but later acquired his own personal gun and became a unit leader.

The problem of rented gun is that besides its out-datedness, most have been overused by either the renters or other users.

Therefore, most of the young boys started as foot soldiers under a particular leader or depended on the rented equipments.

Furthermore, there are large number of youth who mostly lived in the pastoral settlements (Rugga) and villages that are ‘part-time bandits.

The groups are more dangerous that the full-time gun carrying members, because they are the main guys that patronizes these gun renters.

They mostly collect at night and return back in the morning after accomplishing a mission. Some of them also subscribe to a particular group not as active but passive members, who only participated in an attack and retire home after the mission.

Moreover, there are powerful gang leaders with monopoly control of arms and its usage. In this case two categories exist in Zamfara.

The first is the gang leader with large number of arms which he gives out as trust to members. With this, members are often mobilised when the need arises.

This leader could be surrounded with very few members for protection, while the rest were loosely spread across different areas. The essence is not to attract so much public and security attention, but still maintain large followership.

The second has an absolute monopoly control over the weapons. In this case, there are specific places where the weapons are often kept, and put to use when the need arises.

This category has a loose membership that spread across different villages, Ruga and even towns.

In some cases, like in Birnin Magaji, the leader may decide to stay along with his members but no trace of arms or ammunition could be found with them, but every member knows where these arms or ammunition could be found with them, but every member knows where these arms are safely kept in the case of emergencies.

The main differences between the two is that the former promoted high level of uncoordinated attacks, while the later instill certain level of ‘discipline’ in the conduct of the crime.

In actual sense, both are same and equal, because the intention is virtually the same.