Kidnapping for ransom has become one of the most flourishing illicit businesses in Nigeria and there seems to be no hope of the menace ending any time soon.
Findings by First News showed that over N11.70billion had been demanded as ransom for kidnapped victims across the country in recent times.
In fact, Nigerians have paid over N8 billion as ransom between 2011 and 2021 as the kidnapping industry in Nigeria continues to flourish by the day.
A report from SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence as of May 2020 showed that Nigerians, between 2011 and 2020, paid at least $18.34 million (N7 billion) as ransom to kidnappers.
With the increased cases of kidnapping this year, especially in the North, due to the activities of the rampaging bandits and the current exchange of the naira to dollar, Nigerians may have paid over N8 billion as ransom to kidnappers.
It is no more news that kidnapping for ransom is now a regular feature in all parts of the country with thousands of people falling victim.
Some kidnap cases and ransom paid
• Ayo Oladele kidnapped in Ekiti alongside twin brothers, Kehinde Olowoafara and Taiwo Olowoafara. Oladele was released after paying N5 million. The kidnappers demanded N6 million each to release the twins.
• According to a report by Premium Times, Bayegunmi and Abioye, officials FRSC, kidnapped in Iwaraja, Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State, got released in May after families reportedly paid N1.8 million ransom.
• Head of hunters in Ibokun, Amusa Dunsin, and a woman, Tayo George, kidnapped in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State and freed in May after collecting N1.5 million ransom.
• 10 Afaka students, Kaduna, released after parents paid N17 million ransom
• Remaining 29 Afaka students freed after parents reportedly paid N500 million ransom
• Parents of abducted Greenfield undergraduates reportedly paid N180m ransom
• 116 of 136 pupils of Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School, Niger State, freed after parents reportedly paid N50 million
Worrying trend
Before the recent upsurge in kidnappings in the North masterminded by terrorist Boko Haram, bandits, and criminal herdsmen, kidnapping in Nigeria used to be an occurrence majorly in the South.
According to the SBM report last year, four of the top 10 states with a high number of kidnap incidents over the last decade were in the South-South geopolitical zone, with three of them being Bayelsa – 85, Delta -96 and Rivers – 120. Other states with high kidnap incidents include Kaduna – 177, Borno – 82, Kogi – 59, Edo – 55, Ondo – 54, Katsina – 52, and Taraba – 47.
That may no longer be the case with kidnapping cases occurring in many parts of the North, especially the North-West on a daily basis.
What is worrisome about kidnapping in Nigeria is the shift from a specific target to anyone the criminals come across.
Before now, kidnappers in Nigeria targeted specific victims who were mostly politically exposed persons, business people, and their close relatives, or expatriates. Then, it was a common occurrence in the South, especially the South-South and South-East and later South-West.
As earlier stated, kidnapping in the South was more targeted and the kidnappers saw it more as a business transaction, trying hard to extract money from their criminal activities.
No thanks to the activities of criminal herdsmen and bandits, who in recent times, have been blamed for most kidnappings in Nigeria. They kidnap anyone and everyone, and victims whose relatives are too poor to pay a ransom, which often runs to millions of naira, pay with their lives
That is no longer the case; everyone now is a target and nobody is safe, students, travellers, every Nigerian is now a potential victim of the menace.
No thanks to the activities of criminal herdsmen and bandits, who in recent times, have been blamed for most kidnappings in Nigeria. They kidnap anyone and everyone, and victims whose relatives are too poor to pay the ransom, which often runs to millions of naira, pay with their lives.
More so, because these kidnaps are less targeted at specific persons, the bandits are less deliberate in avoiding the deaths of their victims compared to earlier kidnap attempts which appeared to have specific targets in mind.
Considered the worst trend in the kidnapping business in Nigeria is the mass abduction of school children. Following the success of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram in 2014, the terrorist group and bandits now fancy mass abduction of schoolchildren.
While Boko Haram may have indulged in the act to negotiate for the freedom of their arrested members by the Nigerian authorities, bandits, especially in the North-West, abduct schoolchildren solely for ransom.
January to December 2021, 2,800 kidnapped
A recent report showed that about 2,800 Nigerians were kidnapped from January to December 2021. This number only represented cases either confirmed by the police or derived from eye witnesses’ accounts which the media reported.
Findings by First News indicate that many other kidnap cases were never reported, especially in states like Niger, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Katsina states. This means that over 2,800 people might have been kidnapped during those periods.
Dangerous spots
Among dangerous roads kidnap cases frequently occur include Benin-Ore Highway, Benin-Auchi-Okene Highway, Keffi-Akwanga Highway, Akure-Owo Expressway, Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road, Zaria-Sokoto-Gusau, Bauchi-Tafawa-Balewa Highway, Wukari-Takum Road, Kaduna-Abuja highway and Minna -Kotongora Road.
In the North, especially North-West, most remote villages are potential danger zones. Kidnapping can occur any time, either by day or night.
In the South, where herdsmen are blamed for kidnapping activities, highways and farmlands are kidnapping spots.
Government response
The Nigerian government appears to have got to its wits’ end on how to tackle the menace of kidnappings in the country. Each time the criminals undertake mass abduction, the best the government keeps doing has been to issue press releases and condemn the attack with promises amounting to nothing. Oftentimes, the families of the victims sell their lands and other properties to pay ransom to free their loved ones. Sometimes, delay in ransom payment leads to the death of victims.
Timeline of mass kidnappings in 2021
Below is a timeline of mass kidnap by bandits and other criminal elements in recent times. This excludes others kidnapped either as a single individual or in fewer numbers.
On Friday, December 3, no fewer than 20 residents of Unguwan Gimbiya in the Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna State were kidnapped.
On Tuesday, November 2, four University of Abuja staff and two of their children were kidnapped.
On Wednesday 27, October, eight people were kidnapped in Itapaji Ekiti, in Ikole LGA, of the state.
On September 1, 2021, 73 schoolchildren of Government Day Secondary School were kidnapped in the village of Kaya, Zamfara State.
On August 9, 2021, a Pastor, his wife, and 27 others were kidnapped in Kwara State by bandits.
On July 5, 2021, 150 students were kidnapped from a Kaduna school by bandits
On July 8, 2021, bandits kidnapped 16 persons in Damishi, Kaduna State.
On July 11, 2021, Emir of Kajuru, 13 family members and aides were kidnapped by bandits in Kaduna.
On July 25, 2021, bandits hijacked 3 buses, kill 2 and abducted 60 passengers in Sokoto.
On June 2, 2021, 200 pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School in Tegina, Niger State, were kidnapped by bandits.
On June 17, 2021, bandits struck and kidnapped many students of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State.
On June 30, 2021, bandits abducted students of Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna.
On May 30, 2021, bandits kidnapped more than 100 students from an Islamic school in Niger State.
On April 20, 2021, bandits abducted 20 students, two staff members of Greenfield University, Kaduna.
On March 11, 2021, bandits abducted 39 College of Forestry students, Afaka, Kaduna State.
On February 2, 2021, 40 people were abducted by bandits in Shiroro communities in Niger State.
On February 14, 2021, bandits abducted 18 persons after ambushing a passenger bus in Rah LGA of Niger State.
On February 15, 21, bandits kidnapped more than 20 villagers from different communities in Rafi LGA of Niger State.
On February 17, 2021, bandits kidnapped 42 persons, including 27 students, abducted from Government Science College, Kagara in Rafi LGA of Niger State.
On February 25, 2021, bandits abducted no fewer than 317 students of Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata Mafara LGA, Zamfara State.
On January 5, 2021, bandits kidnapped not less than 40 persons in Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State.
On January 5, 2021, bandits kill one person, abduct more than 20 others in a village in Toto LGA, Nasarawa State.
On January 28, 2021, bandits abducted 83 persons, including 27 wedding guests along Wukari- Takum Road in Taraba State, the same day, bandits kidnapped 56 in Niger State.
Worst hit states
Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states have remained some of the worst-hit states by the menace. Attempts by bandits to kidnap people for ransom in villages in these states have often resulted in fatalities.
The North-West has become a shadow of itself owing to activities of bandits, a situation that at a point left Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State with no option but to demand a state of emergency to be declared in his state.
In all, Nigeria continues to become less safe each day, with increased cases of kidnappings in many states.
Over 1,000 students have been kidnapped since gangs started to target schools and colleges. Most have been released after negotiations.
Factors
Unemployment and illiteracy are two major factors blamed for kidnapping and other menace in Nigeria. The rising levels of youth unemployment in the country has remained a key factor responsible for the rising cases of kidnapping.
The inability of governments across all levels to make education available for all remains the major reason many illiterate youths have constantly been lured to partake in terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, among others.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in August 2020 revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate as at the second quarter of 2020 was 27.1 per cent, indicating that about 21.7 million Nigerians remain unemployed.
In March 2021, Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 33.3 per cent, and second-highest on the global list of countries monitored by Bloomberg.
This came after the NBS report said that the jobless rate in Nigeria rose to 33.3 per cent up from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
According to Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, the rising rate of unemployment portends danger for the country. Blaming the menace on lack of education, Ngige warned that if the problem was not tackled the country might be “completely wiped out.”
He said, “We are in trouble as a country. We are in trouble and anybody who tells you he doesn’t know we are in trouble is lying to himself and once you lie to yourself. We are facing a problem that is cyclic, one begat the other. It is left for you and me the elite to decide to save ourselves, save our children and save our country.
“If we keep on with these symptoms; buy ammunition, bomb these people, bomb kidnappers, bomb Boko Haram, you will be wasting resources. If you had prevented it, it would cost you less. We must give education to these people at the grassroots.
“Those who can’t get an education, we must provide them jobs so that they can fend for themselves. They can put a roof over their heads. If you don’t kill ignorance, you are breeding people who would be brainwashed to believe that with Biafra all their problems will go away; Oduduwa, all their problems will go, Boko Haram.
“If we don’t tackle them, we will continue like this until this country might be wiped out completely; we don’t pray for that. We must give education to the people at the grassroots.”
Way forward
Like Ngige said, to tackle the evil of kidnapping in the country, the factors responsible for it must be addressed.
And to achieve that, the government must be deliberate about addressing unemployment, insecurity, and other myriad problems currently afflicting the majority of Nigerians.
