In the land where milk and honey were once promised, blood and tears now flow freely. Nigeria, a nation of boundless potential, has become a playground for marauders—where kidnapping for ransom has mutated into a booming enterprise, rivaling even the most established industries. What was once an isolated act of criminality has now become a full-fledged sector of the underworld economy, with tentacles reaching from the backwaters of rural communities to the corridors of power in Abuja.
From Crime to Cartel: A Bloody Business Model
There was a time when kidnappings were rare, a shocking aberration that gripped headlines for weeks. But those days are long gone. Today, abduction for ransom has grown legs, acquired fangs, and wears the garb of an industry. According to SBM Intelligence, no fewer than 3,964 people were kidnapped in Nigeria in 2023 alone, with ransom demands totaling ₦5 billion. This is not mere opportunism; this is organized crime with spreadsheets.
Criminal syndicates now operate with military precision—monitoring bank accounts, hacking into phone records, and deploying scouts to profile potential victims. From Niger to Zamfara, from the suburbs of Port Harcourt to the outskirts of Abuja, nowhere is sacred. Children, women, religious leaders, students, and even security agents are fair game.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and the law-abiding citizen is left with bones.
Government: Asleep at the Switch
While kidnappers run riot, the government twiddles its thumbs. What we have is a leadership that’s missing in action, treating a national emergency with the casualness of a tea party. Despite repeated promises, over 80% of reported kidnapping cases in Nigeria go unsolved, according to the Centre for Democracy and Development. What does this say about our security architecture? It is crumbling like a poorly baked meat pie.
The police, underfunded and poorly trained, are left chasing shadows. The military, stretched thin by insurgency and banditry, lacks the resources to mount a consistent response. Meanwhile, the political class, shielded by convoys and sirens, dishes out press statements instead of action.
Grease-Palmed Collaborators and Silent Beneficiaries
There’s more than meets the eye. One of the most damning elements of this rising criminal enterprise is the complicity of insiders—security agents who leak intel, government officials who look the other way, and traditional rulers who negotiate with criminals instead of denouncing them. In some states, it’s an open secret that bandits collect taxes from farmers and negotiate peace deals from a position of strength.
And let’s not even talk about ransom payments. In most cases, negotiations are not only facilitated by law enforcement but sometimes aided by them. When victims are released, it’s not due to tactical brilliance, but because a bag of cash—sometimes in foreign currency—has exchanged hands.
In a nation where poverty is widespread and unemployment festers, kidnapping has become the new oil well. It’s the grim harvest of a failed system.
Education and Insecurity: A Match Made in Hell
The attack on education has become another leg of the kidnapping industry. Recall the Chibok abductions of 2014, the Dapchi girls of 2018, and more recently, the 2024 mass abduction of 287 schoolchildren in Kaduna State. These attacks are not random—they are part of a well-thought-out strategy to hold the nation by the jugular.
The United Nations estimates that over 1,500 schools have been closed across Northern Nigeria in the last three years due to insecurity. When education is under siege, the future is kidnapped.
Citizens Left to Fend for Themselves
The most disturbing part of this tragedy is the normalization of kidnapping. Today, it’s not uncommon to hear Nigerians discussing ransom logistics with the same casual tone used to bargain in a marketplace. “How much did they collect?” “Did you go through an intermediary?” “How many days did they keep him?”
What we are witnessing is not just a security crisis—it is a moral collapse. When evil becomes routine, the soul of a nation is in peril.
The Way Forward: Barking Is Not Enough—It’s Time to Bite
The Nigerian government must stop paying lip service and start biting where it matters. It is time for a total overhaul of our security framework:
Technology-Driven Surveillance: We need drones, tracking systems, and real-time monitoring to locate and neutralize hideouts.
Community Intelligence: Local vigilantes and hunters must be integrated into national security plans with oversight to prevent abuse.
Legal Reform: Kidnapping must carry capital punishment, and trials must be expedited. No more plea bargains for kidnappers.
Financial Tracking: Banks and fintech companies should be mandated to flag suspicious transfers, especially in kidnap-prone regions.
Victim Support: Beyond rescue, victims need psychological and financial support to heal from their trauma.
Final Thoughts: When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted
Nigeria is at a crossroads. The rise of kidnapping as a viable “career path” is a national disgrace. It shows that when institutions collapse, the devil finds work for idle hands—and in our case, it’s the lucrative job of kidnapping.
It’s time to face facts: we’re not just fighting criminals—we’re battling a deeply entrenched system of impunity, greed, and government paralysis. If we don’t act now, the hunters will become the hunted, and no one—not even those in high places—will be spared.
Let us not wait until our own names appear on the next ransom list before we rise to demand change. For in the business of kidnapping, silence is complicity, and inaction is blood on the hands.
Stanley Ugagbe is a Social Commentator. He can be reached via stanleyakomeno@gmail.com
