A federal court in Nigeria has declared the Islamist Lakurawa group a terrorist organisation, a designation that allows the military to use maximum force against a group that has been an emerging threat to security in the northwest.

Judge James Omotosho issued the order on Thursday, proscribing the sect and banning any individual or group from participating in its activities, Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi's office said in a statement on Friday.

Nigeria is already fighting several armed groups, including Islamist militant group Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province and several bandit gangs.

The recent emergence of the Lakurawa group, which operates mainly in the northwestern Kebbi and Sokoto states, has exacerbated insecurity in Nigeria's largely Muslim north.