By Muhammad Rabiu Yahaya
Paraphrasing the words of Professor Umaru Pate, Nigeria is a multicultural nation of diverse people, multiple identities, and colourful outlook. It has a population of about 210 million, more than 400 ethnic groups, dozens of political parties, 36 federating states, and additional complex platforms of diversities. But today, the harmonious relationship in these diversities is shattered with the steady rise of kidnapping in many parts of the country.
For example, the figures by Institute for Security Studies (ISS) show that between January 2016 and May 2021 no fewer than 4,962 persons were kidnapped across the country. The average number of victims per incident however has increased over the years from 2.6 in 2016 to 9.4 this year. In the first half of 2021 alone, 2,371 persons were kidnapped. Kidnapping is becoming more democratized as more people are participating in it in more places. Kidnapping thrives because the invention outweighs its deterrent considering the spike in the frequency, the number of kidnapped people, and ransom paid.
A lagos-based consulting firm, SB Morgan intelligence, estimated that between June 2011 and March 2020, Nigerians paid kidnappers an estimated N 8.98 billion as ransoms. This indicates the extent to which kidnap for ransom becomes a huge money-spinner in the country creating a thriving criminal economy, which attracts more assailants like ants to sugar.
In Northwestern Nigeria, the epidemic is taking the form of abducting school pupils and students alike. A case in point is the abduction of 73 pupils in Kaya village of Zamfara State. In April and May earlier this year, more than 70 students were abducted from the Federal College and the nearby Greenfield University in Kaduna State. With Nigeria being one in five of the world’s out-of-school children, kidnapping of these school children may create educational crises where we would have a ‘lost generation of youth’.
Many parents in states like Niger, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Sokoto sold most of what they owned to raise funds demanded by these criminals. Some end up selling their homes or land. Some incur colossal debt that they can never repay. Others go to markets, Mosques, and churches to crowdfund the money. Police officers themselves have been kidnapped, and their families have been forced to pay ransom for their release.
To curtail these cases of incessant kidnappings, the government must step up its military and intelligence efforts which require building up the capacity of the Nigerian military and intelligent agency. The capacity of the Nigerian police also needs to be build-up, and police need more workforce, equipment, and most importantly better leadership which also requires tackling corruption.
Muhammad Rabiu Yahaya, a level 300 student,
Department of Mass Communication,
