The series of attacks by armed bandits took place over the past 48 hours, each killing 18 people in the villages of Kaduna and Katsina states and injuring several others. The attackers burned houses and expelled the villagers.
In northern Nigeria, hundreds of people have been murdered by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings.
Such attacks have added to security concerns in Nigeria, which is struggling to stem Islamist uprisings in the Northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states.
The latest attack comes less than a month after President Muhammadu Buhari replaced his old military chiefs amid mounting violence, with armed forces fighting to reclaim other northeastern cities overrun by insurgents.
Last week, unidentified gunmen killed a student in an attack on a boarding school in the north-central state of Niger, and kidnapped 42 people, including 27 students.