Need to tackle kidnapping in Nigeria

Victoria Akande

LIFE is regarded as precious, sacred and held dear. Every human effort is primarily geared towards preserving and elongating life. Little wonder it is shocking, if not outrageous, the recent care-free manner in which lives are lost without any thought in the country. Life in Nigeria can be snuffed out at the snap of a finger. More disheartening is the brazen way in which crimes such as robbery, banditry and more especially, kidnapping are being carried out. The media is awash daily with reports of kidnapping-for-ransom and wanton destruction of lives and property. This ugly trend seems to be gaining grounds in almost all parts of the country without regard for gender, religion, class or creed.

Many reasons may be attributed to the spate of this anomaly; from distrust in government, unemployment, to poverty, to hunger and lack, etc; however, these reasons hold no water in the face of the sanctity of human life.

Between January and March this year, 1,603 people lost their lives in violent attacks in Nigeria, according to a report by Nigeria Mourns, a non-governmental organization. Another report says 2,371 people were kidnapped between January and June, 2021 across the country with many killed by their abductors.

The more worrisome part about kidnapping is the new trend of kidnapping school children for ransom, especially in the northern part of the country. According to a September 2021 report by SBM Intelligence, 1,409 students and 17 teachers have been kidnapped in 19 incidents since March, 2020. The states with the most prevalence are Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna and Kebbi. So far, N220 million has been paid as ransom with 16 of the victims dead. This trend will cast aspersion on the educational system which is believed to be a liberator of man’s mind.

Kidnapping in the country should be nipped and quickly, too so there would not be a dearth of students, teachers and schools generally in the north; or even more chronic, kidnapping of school children becomes a national phenomenon.

The case of the kidnap of school girls from Chibok in Borno State in 2014 and Dapchi, Yobe State in 2018 from their schools are still fresh in our memories. How can we forget how some of them were maltreated, dehumanised, impregnated, married off, etc? Or do we talk about those that were freed but still bound in depression and undergoing various levels of mental challenges? Or those who have been subjected to become unplanned mothers? Or those who have had their future truncated and at the edge of turning bleak?

The time to act is now! Security agents should be empowered and better equipped to combat crime in the country and regain the citizens’ confidence. More job opportunities should be created, especially at the local levels, to reduce the rate of unemployment and poverty.

Also, perpetrators of crimes should be made to face the full weight/wrath of the law without bias and sentiments. This will help victims of crimes and their families find closure for the wrong done to them.

If there was ever a time that people of good conscience, stakeholders and the government should rise to the occasion and curtail this menace, it is now, before Nigeria degenerates to a blood-bathed country.

• Victoria Akande, Ibadan

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