In recent months, a segment of the Nigerian society has been quarantined by the growing scourge of kidnappings for ransom. Nightlife that had already been hard hit by the menace of armed robbery and the banning of Okada has taken a further pounding as a result. The well to do now stay indoors and when they do venture outside they do so incognito for fear of being kidnapped. The South-south and south-east zones of the country have been particularly hit hard. Over the years, foreign oil companies in the country have had to deal with the kidnappings of their workers for ransom. For some moot reasons, some Nigerians felt this was a problem for the not too popular oil companies to deal with, especially those who saw the kidnappings as representing crude efforts to redistribute the proceeds of oil exploration in the region. Now this very deadly business that started in the Niger Delta is spreading its tentacles to other parts of the country, fuelled by government neglect, corruption, inefficient and corrupt Police Force, greed, unemployment and the battering of other sources of illicit income like 419 by the global economic meltdown.
At one stage during the evolution of this monster called kidnapping, the practitioners kidnapped mainly the rich or members of their families because they had the millions to pay as ransom and many of them paid. A former senior official of the oil industry during Obasanjo’s government who hails from the Niger Delta reportedly paid N500 million to secure the release of his wife after the kidnappers threatened to take turns raping her. Some people may not feel sorry for this individual because of perceived opinions as to how he got the N500 million in the first place. Whatever the validity of this view vis-à-vis the kidnapping, it looks like the dynamics of the trade is changing and changing very quickly.
The rich and foreign oil industry workers who were the initial victims of kidnappings have implemented security measures to protect themselves, thereby making it harder for the kidnappers to seize their potential victims. The state and federal governments are even providing some of them with more police and military protection at the expense of ordinary Nigerians. But the kidnappers are not about to give up on this lucrative business. They have re-tooled and in some cases re-engineered their modus operandi.
The kidnappers have now expanded the sources for their “supplies” They are no longer restricting themselves to finding their victims from the groups of expatriates or rich and famous. It looks like they are prepared to unleash a pandemic of kidnappings by targeting anyone with a few bucks to pay and this is where it becomes very scary. Most of the kidnappings we hear about often involve demands for ransom in the millions but several kidnappings occur daily in which the kidnappers are demanding just enough money to buy booze, pay their rent and replenish their tools of the trade. Often times these stories are not reported to the police or the press due to the relatively small amounts involved and the fear and or mistrust of the police. Police authorities in the South-East zone have confirmed that some people have been kidnapped for as little as N20,000.00 (http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/6/302.html).
Following the rash of kidnappings that I have occurred in Benin City in the last few months I discussed the issue with a few people this weekend and they were very clear in expressing their concerns that sooner or later the parents and family members of those in the Diaspora would soon become targets. I told some of them that their fears were belated because the brother of Joseph Yobo of Everton Football Club in England was kidnapped and it cost him a fortune to secure his release. Let me state unequivocally that I am not insinuating nor do I believe that the parents and family members of those in the Diaspora deserve or are entitled to any more attention regarding this issue as are Nigerians at home. I have only mentioned members of this class because of their economic attractiveness to the kidnappers.
The states and federal government would want the Nigerian people to believe they are clearly worried about this menace judging by their legislative efforts. State governments, particularly in the south east, have responded to this wave of kidnappings by passing new criminal laws (although I suspect the competence of states to pass criminal laws in Nigeria will be challenged at some point), with some imposing the death penalty for the offence. This knee-jerk reaction to the problem of kidnapping is typical of governance in Nigeria. Governments continue to chase shadows while ignoring the substantive issues of law enforcement, corruption and the desperation and restlessness of millions of young men and women with no sources of livelihood and no hope for a better tomorrow. State governments have passed new laws criminalizing kidnapping as if it is a new type of offence – kidnapping has been a criminal offence in Nigeria since the colonial era. I understand the federal government is also considering a law that would impose stiffer punishments for kidnapping.
I dare to say that the above measures will not work because they do not address the root causes of the problem. Too often in Nigeria, the government believes it can isolate a particular problem and deal with it successfully. This approach often fails because it treats the symptom of a disease as the disease itself. In the Nigerian context, kidnapping is not the disease. It is a symptom of the abysmal decadence that has enveloped the country. It is a symptom of the recklessness and abandonment with which successive governments have handled the issue of training and employment. It is a symptom of the greed and corruption that have brought the country to its knees. It is a reminder of the brutal techniques employed by electioneering politicians who armed their supporters with guns and ammunitions in order to realize their “do or die” ambitions of “winning” elections at all costs. Most of all, it is the BIGGEST symptom of a police force whose morale and professionalism have been devastated by low pay, outdated equipment and poor working conditions to the extent that they have become willing accomplices of armed robbers and kidnappers. These are some of the real causes of kidnappings in Nigeria. Sadly, there are no policies in place to deal with these problems and there is little or no reason to believe that the political will to put the policies in place will arrive soon.
You cannot deal with the problem of kidnapping as a crime in Nigeria while ignoring the many politicians who have looted the country of billions, the very money meant to create employment for some of the kidnappers. The politicians looted these billions without suffering any sanctions. You cannot treat kidnapping as an offense when you have a police force that is not equipped to deal with kidnapping and some will argue are conspiring with the kidnappers. You cannot win the fight against kidnappers and kidnapping in a society where government’s only responsibility to the poor and unemployed citizenry is reduced to promises that are never kept and statements of intentions that are ignored the moment after the speeches are delivered. You cannot say you want to eliminate or reduce kidnappings in the country when each new day brings forth stories of government officials embezzling billions from the nation’s coffers, the surfacing of billionaires from nowhere and millions being found in bank accounts belonging to government cooks. You cannot say you want to deal with kidnapping while lacking the willingness to deal with the bank officials who collude with the kidnappers to move their ransom payments through the banking system. You cannot be serious about dealing with kidnapping in a society where the only measure of success is money, with the source of such wealth being irrelevant.
The above is a circumscribed elucidation of the background in which the states and federal government are attempting to eradicate or reduce kidnapping in Nigeria. I invite Nigerians to judge for themselves what they think the outcome would be. For decades, our society has cultivated the environment for the fertilization of this menace. It has now been fertilized, hatched and is growing into a gargantuan monster. I am afraid, the sad stories and extortions associated with it may touch many more innocent lives and families before we start to see it for what it is: kidnapping is a symptom of a bigger problem that can only be solved through a holistic approach to the problems of Nigeria.
Before anyone goes away thinking he or she is too secured to be kidnapped, permit me to remind you of the story of Aldo Moro, one of the longest serving Italian Prime Minister. He was kidnapped in Rome in March 1978 on his way to the Parliament after five of his bodyguards had been killed. He was found dead about two months later. Not even the offer by then Pope Paul VI to exchange himself for Aldo Moro could save the politician’s life. The point of this example is to drive home the point that nobody should safe from kidnapping because nobody is.
Majekodunmi Adega
[email protected]
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