The insecurity in Nigeria is getting more serious. Kidnapping has become a huge and lucrative business. Many families are paying hefty ransoms to free their kidnapped relatives. Would the increased budget for security and defence in the 2025 budget change the rhetoric? We keep our fingers crossed.
“It is simply troubling that a nation that is not at war would be having such a staggering number of abductions in one year.”
Many Nigerians were flabbergasted Tuesday when the latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) became public.
The NBS told the world that Nigerian households paid a total of N2.23trn as ransom over the last 12 months between May 2023 and April 2024, and that an estimated number of 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded within the stated period, leaving many citizens tongue-tied.
It is not surprising that the Northwest was mentioned as leading the chart in the NBS report. The seven states of the zone (Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara) have seen an upswing in the activities of blood-sucking insurgents. Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara have always been hotbeds of bandit’ activity. These are also where hefty ransoms are being demanded and paid.
“Of the budget, N1.7 trillion was then allocated to defense. It means that the amount (N2.23 trn) paid as ransom was higher than the year’s budget to fight insecurity in that year.”
Many people could not reconcile the burgeoning figures revealed by the statistics agency with the equally growing number of “repentant” bandits and Boko Haram being flaunted by some state governments, the latest being Kaduna State.
It is simply troubling that a nation that is not at war would be having such a staggering number of abductions in one year.
Equally troubling is the fact that the ragtag appearance of the bandits does not in any way convey the truism that such a humongous amount of money indeed was received by them. This fuels the often held belief that there are big sponsors who send out the “boys” on the kidnapping expedition.
There is also the belief in many quarters that the so-called “repentant” criminals may not be repentant after all. The thinking is that some of them might even be acting as spies for their ilk in the bush.
A report in March this year by allAfrica under the headline ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Ex-Fighters Threaten to Return to the Bush’ indicated that some frustrated “repentant” insurgents were not happy that they were not being catered for.
Some of them who had been in the camp reportedly said they were better off fighting for the militant group than residing in camps.
“Honestly, if the government does not fulfil what they promised us, there is going to be a serious problem,” one of the former insurgents told DW. “Look at how I lost weight and lost my shape. Sincerely speaking, I prefer going (back) to the bush,” one of the ex-bandits said.
Some of them who had also become frustrated with life in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp said that life was better under Boko Haram occupation; as such, returning to the jungle was a matter of survival.
“Some of our colleagues here in Dikwa have decided to return to the bush because life is not any better here in the camp. We’re just suffering here,” a displaced person lamented.
“We took the decision to leave our families behind and relocate to the Boko Haram-controlled area because it is all about dying, whether here or there,” another person added.
Over and over again, Nigerians have been told by some state governors that many bandits operating within their domain have repented and have been reintegrated into society. But the number of abducted citizens and the amount of ransom paid are on the rise.
The other day, the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, reportedly received the first set of repentant bandits in Birnin-Gwari and reopened a cattle market, which had been closed for about 10 years due to insecurity in the area.
The governor said that several senior bandit leaders had laid down their arms and embraced peace, along with their followers.
According to him, the program adhered to international standards of disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration, ensuring that these individuals could return to society as productive citizens.
In February 2022, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State said that 90 percent of repentant Boko Haram terrorists had genuinely given up terrorism.
Read also: Nigerian farmers pay N1.19bn ransoms to bandits in 4 years
Zulum disclosed this in an interview with State House Correspondents on Wednesday shortly after former President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Presidential Committee on the Repatriation, Return, and Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Zulum said, “I believe over 90 percent of those that have surrendered are doing well and have given the government the necessary support. They are also calling their colleagues in the bush to come out and join the process of peacebuilding.”
As far back as December 2021, the then governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, had said that there was nothing like repentant bandits and that the state believed in dispatching the terrorists attacking innocent people to their creator.
He made the claim following a terrorist (bandit) attack on Kauran Fawa, Marke, and Ruhiya of Idasu Ward of Giwa Local Government Area, Kaduna State, that claimed 40 lives.
On repentant bandits, the then governor said, “There is nothing like repentant terrorists (bandits). The only repentant bandit is the one that is dead. Our intention in the state is to kill them (bandits/terrorists), let them go, and see God.”
The military has continued to apply both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies in the fight against insurgency. It has also reported on a regular basis large numbers of bandits and insurgents in the northern part of the country that have been killed, yet it would seem that the battle is far from being over.
In the 2024 budget, security and funding to the defence and security sector (which includes the military, police, intelligence, and paramilitary) got N3.85trn.
Of the budget, N1.7 trillion was then allocated to defense. It means that the amount (N2.23 trn) paid as ransom was higher than the year’s budget to fight insecurity in that year.
If the NBS report is anything to go by, it would be safe to say that it made nonsense of the claim by some state governors and even the military that thousands of bandits and other insurgents have given up criminality.
While the efforts of the NBS should be commended for bringing to the fore the harm that insecurity is doing to Nigeria, it is also expedient to remind the security agencies that there must be a new tactic to fight the battle.
With the total N4.76 trillion budget for security and defence for next year, efforts must be made to put the huge figure into proper use.
It has been established that the extreme hunger being experienced in Nigeria is driving many citizens into all manner of criminality. People are said to be lured into dangerous groups for a mere portion of portage.
That was the experience of the so-called repentant insurgents in Borno. They cried out and threatened to go back to their evil trade.
The federal government must ensure that it reduces the high level of hunger in the land through policies that have a human face. A country where 51.89 million crime incidents, as captured by the NBS, occurred in just one year is simply scandalous. We have not even factored in the unreported cases. We are not in Afghanistan!
It would be unfortunate if, at the end of 2025, the NBS comes up again with a damning figure of paid ransom and kidnapped citizens. That could mean ‘to your tents, O Israel.”
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