Concrete efforts to end kidnapping
By Amina Dantata
Nigeria is facing a growing number of kidnappings and mass abductions, with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLEDP) ranking Nigeria ahead of Mexico and Colombia in incidents of kidnapping and mass abduction. Dakuku Peterside, an APC chieftain and columnist with Vanguard newspaper, identified three broad categories of kidnapping: retail kidnapping, medium-scale kidnapping, and terrorist abduction. Retail kidnapping involves immediate financial rewards, while medium-scale kidnapping involves attacking buses on the road and taking all the passengers, assaulting villages and taking helpless victims hostage, and attacking communities. Terrorist abduction is a sophisticated organised crime and large-scale business involving multiple actors, often targeting high value individuals, and designed to draw the government’s attention. In addition, the economic and social implications of kidnapping and its auxiliary psychological and emotional trauma are a collective nightmare.
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According to a report by SBM Intelligence, about N653.7 million was paid as ransom in Nigeria between July 2021 and June 2022. More than 500 incidents were recorded, and 3,420 people were abducted across the country, with 564 others killed in the violence associated with kidnapping in one year. N6.531 billion ($9.9 million) was demanded in ransom in the period considered, but only N653.7 million ($1.2 million) was paid. Kidnapping for ransom has become attractive due to the ineptitude of our security agencies and a culture of corruption and compromise. Law enforcement agencies should start enforcing existing laws on kidnapping, while the government should be creative in reviewing all laws pertaining to kidnapping and creatively creating more.
A sensitisation programme is needed to educate the youth to eschew violence and kidnapping activities, while being tough on those who choose to become kidnappers. A concerted effort is needed now, to tame not only the vicious kidnapping, but also the avalanche of other violent crimes threatening the country’s corporate existence.
Amina Sahalu Dantata
Mass communication student of skyline University Nigeria. Kano.
