Milgram’s Lesson: How Authority and Sponsors Fuel Banditry in Nigeria

In 1963, psychologist Stanley Milgram showed that ordinary people will inflict harm when directed by an authority. Today’s bandits often start as poor, unemployed youth or drug addicts. They obey commanders, receive funding from sponsors and escape personal responsibility under a strict hierarchy. Victims lose their humanity and become “hostages” rather than fellow citizens. To end this violence, we must target the city-based sponsors and dismantle the command structure. Hunting bandits in the bush tackles only half the problem. Cut off the money and remove the authority, and the cycle of terror stops.

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