Bandits Kidnap Over 947 Students In 7 months, Demand N307m Ransom

In seven months, bandits and terrorist groups have demanded more than N307 million as ransom from the families of kidnap victims.

The figure is the ransom demanded by kidnappers from school attacks in northern Nigeria.

The northern region of the country has witnessed a plethora of kidnappings by bandits, with the abduction of school children becoming a recurring theme.

No fewer than 947 students and pupils have been abducted in the last seven months.

The abductions include: 334 schoolboys in Kankara, Katsina State; 42 students and workers in Kagara, Niger State; 279 schoolgirls in Jangebe, Zamfara State; 39 students of Forestry Mechanisation College in Afaka, Kaduna State and 22 students and staff of Greenfield University also in Kaduna State.

Others are 136 students of an Islamic school in Tegina, Niger State; 10 students and lecturers of Nuhu Bamalli Polythetic in Zaria, Kaduna State and the most recent kidnap of an unspecified number of students and teachers from the Federal Government College, Kebbi.

Reuters had reported that no fewer than 85 students and teachers were abducted from the FGC in June.

The booming kidnap-for-ransom enterprise has been deemed a huge security threat.

One of such abductions saw the payment of about N180m by families of the Greenfield University students kidnapped in April.

The bandits had reportedly killed five students to make the parents yield to their demand for the ransom and other items like motorcycles, airtime, and mobile phones.
(https://humangle.ng/remaining-abducted-greenfield-university-students-released-after-parents-paid-n180-million-ransom/)

Also, one of the parents of the Afaka abduction victims had narrated how challenging it was for them to raise N17m to secure the release of their children/wards.

Recently, the captors of pupils of an Islamic school in Niger had demanded the sum of N110m as ransom.

The kidnappers have continued to hold on to the pupils more than 25 days after the children between the ages of 8 and 15 were abducted.

THE WHISTLER could not independently verify other cases where ransoms were demanded or paid as the state governments had denied making payments to bandits.

They include the Kankara, Kagara and Jangebe abductions.

Booming kidnap-for-ransom empire

In May, a report by the SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence said between June 2011 and March 2020, Nigeria paid at least $18.34 million (₦7 billion) as ransom to kidnappers.

Many have argued that the proceeds generated from kidnappings may enrich the criminal enterprise of the bandits.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER in a phone interview, the Director Beacon Consulting Nigeria,
Adamu Kabir, noted that primary responsibility of any government is the protection of lives and property of citizens.

Kabir however said, “if the government decides to shelve its responsibility of preventing the spate of kidnappings, then it will be left with no options than to pay ransom.”

He also said that whether the government decides to pay or not, there are negative consequences.

“If they decide to pay ransom, the most obvious consequences are the continuation of that industry. It has become an industry that has several components and we can talk about the actors themselves, those who are kidnapping and those who are feeding the industry.

“There is an industry feeding from them, and the more ransom is paid, the more it grows.

“So, there is an industry and that industry is incentivized by the payment of ransom,” Kabir said.

We Will Teach When There Is Peace

On its part, the Ministry of Education said it was working with security agencies to ensure that recurring school abductions are brought to a halt.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER in an interview at his office in Abuja, the Director, Press and Public Relations Department, Ben Ben Goong, noted that while the ministry has a job to direct education in the country, it was the responsibility of security agencies to ensure the safety of students.

“It is when there is peace we will teach,” he said, while calling on security agencies to establish community-based strategies to curb kidnapping of school children.