Kidnapping in Nigeria

Kidnapping for ransom is one of the biggest organised or gang crime in Nigeria and is seen as a national security challenge.¹ The kidnapping are often violent and resistance always result in the death of victims. Thousands of Nigerians have fallen victim of the crime and have had to pay millions of dollars in ransom for their freedom. Kidnapping is seen as lucrative business and the shortest means to wealth by those involved in this crime. The current wave of abductions across the country makes every person a potential target regardless of social class or economic status unlike political kidnapping which started in the Nigeria's oil rich Niger Delta region in the early 2000s and the one by terror group,]] Boko Haram]] in the Nigeria's northeast and northwest that began in 2009 when the conflict there started. In the Niger Delta , agitators took expatriates working with multinational oil giants hostage to force oil companies operating there to carry out community development projects for the benefit of the host communities or force government into negotiations for more of economic benefits accruing to the federal treasury for the region. Abductions by Islamist terrorist Boko Haram is to further its agenda, recruit fighters, instill fear, gain more international popularity and force government to negotiate with it for ransom which is one of the means of generating funds for its terrorist operation. Kidnapping for ransom on a commercial scale which became rampant in Nigeria in 2011 spread across all the 36 states and the Nigeria capital, Abuja . In the northwest states of Zamfara , Katsina and Kaduna hundreds of local community members mostly young women and children are often abducted by bandits operating from forests. Parkinson, Gbenga Akingbule and Joe (2018-02-22). "Lai Mohammed lied, Nigerian govt paid Boko Haram 'large ransom' to free #DapchiGirls - UN" . 2018-08-16 .²