Examining the Research Gap in Criminological Studies of Human Rights Abuses by Non-State Armed Groups in Nigeria

Non-state armed groups including Boko Haram, ISWAP, armed bandits, and Niger Delta militant organisations commit systematic human rights violations that constitute criminal offences under international humanitarian law, yet these violations are underanalysed within Nigerian criminological scholarship which largely focuses on state crime or conventional criminality. This study examined this research gap through systematic literature review and original theoretical analysis. A systematic scoping review of twelve databases identified 89 publications from 2015 to 2024 addressing non-state armed group violence in Nigeria, of which only 23 applied criminological frameworks (versus 66 employing political science or security studies approaches). Among the 23 criminological studies, only 8 specifically addressed the violations committed as criminalogenic acts with victim-centred analysis. Gap analysis identified four under-researched dimensions: victimological analysis of non-state group atrocities, criminal accountability mechanisms under Nigerian domestic law for NSAG violations, survivor-centred justice responses, and comparative analysis with international criminal law standards. The study proposes an original Victimological-Criminal Framework for analysing NSAG violations in Nigeria, integrating routine activity theory, social disorganisation theory, and transitional justice scholarship. A research agenda is proposed with five priority empirical investigations. This constitutes an original contribution to Nigerian criminological theory and recommends TETFUND funding priority for empirical victimological research on NSAG atrocities.

Keywords: non-state armed groups, human rights violations, criminology, research gap, victimology