USA Africa Dialogue Series - Kidnapping: How to curb the nightmare

Kidnapping: How to curb the nightmare

KAYODE KETEFE

It will take a great sociologist to discriminate between numerous problems confronting Nigeria and identify the most detrimental to the nation's quest for progress. The problems are legions - corruption, insecurity, illiteracy, infrastructural backwardness, criminality, religious bigotry, ethnicity, accursed leadership, stagnation etc
Of course, it is trite that all of these are inter-connected, but to isolate the single most important factor responsible for the miserable condition of Nigeria would be a matter of academic conjecture resolvable only within the same nebulous paradigm of hen/egg precedence paradox.
Be that as it may, the shocking news of the recent kidnap of Chief Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, former Minister of Finance, former presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party (APP) and a chieftain of the Afenifere, (a Yoruba socio-cultural group) on the very day he should be celebrating his 77th birthday has once again brought to the fore the perplexing problem of kidnapping in Nigeria.
Falae was held for four days until Thursday, September 24, 2015 when he was released. The authorities claimed no ransom was paid even though his abductors had initially demanded for N100 million as ransom fee! The Police later had to make a volte face, claiming they were not aware any ransom was paid.
Kidnapping for ransom, which began as form of protest by militants in the Niger-Delta region to protest the callous environmental damage unleashed by oil exploration/exploitation cum infrastructural neglect by the federal government, has since blossomed into a criminal, big time multibillion naira business, nurtured with the same entrepreneurial passion as with a legitimate enterprise.
Kidnapping is now essentially a commercial project for all comers who could lay hand on guns and who are crazy enough to trade other people's lives for filthy lucre.
Every lazy bone now sees abduction as a shortcut to instant wealth; it has become magical money spinners for the ne'er do well.
The menace has spread into virtually all parts of the country with varying degree of intensity as some areas are particularly reputed as hotspots. To reel out the names of prominent figures who had been kidnapped for ransoms in the past would occupy the rest of the space in this piece and would require continuation in part two!
Unfortunately the Nigerian Security system, in all its ramifications has, more often than not, played the second best to the kidnappers. Goaded on by impunity, the kidnappers had been having a field day, ravaging the land recklessly, claiming victims among the lowly and the mighty and picking up easy dough almost for the asking.
Numerous amounts of foreign direct investments have found their ways into alternative but more stable climes as a result of the scourge. This is not to talk of direct impact of decline in quality of life we now lead as a result of insecurity. Furthermore, many skilled and resourceful Nigerians in the Diaspora who can contribute to the nation's growth are afraid to come home.
A number of approaches may be offered as counter-measures to check the rampancy if not eradicate the problem of kidnapping. The first one is "no payment method". This is a strategy of cultivating the practice of calling the bluff of the marauders by refusing to oblige them with ransom payments.
One is not oblivious of practical difficulty of inculcating this mentality in Nigerians. A number of people would readily offer money to procure the freedoms of their loved ones. But the paradox is that the more ransom is paid, the more kidnapping becomes prevalent. If this culture of "no payment" is entrenched, at least, commercial kidnapping would stop.
Let us face it, kidnappers don't drink blood! What they want is money, and if it is fairly certain no ransom would be forthcoming, they would not find the crime lucrative.
Those who think this is not realistic should ponder on situations where ransoms are collected and still the kidnapers kill the victim. Could that be worse than calling the bluff of the kidnapers? But this approach calls for highly efficient security system to crush the kidnappers.
The second approach is the technological one. A number of crimes in developed countries have been solved through deployment of appropriate technology. For example, kidnapping for ransom invariably involves making a phone call, at least to inform the relatives of the victims of the incident and to demand ransom. We know that whenever a call is made, the signal never go to recipient directly but through a central processing facility.
Thus, the service provider acts as the interface between the caller and receiver and can easily trace the call in real time.
It never ceases to beat me why our security agents often neglect, fail or prove incapable of employing technology forensically. There are so many crimes that would have been solved through simple activity of tracing the GSM calls or the internet-based messages. The advantage of technological approach is that it can even been employed as pre-emptive measure.
The third approach is legal approach. No case of kidnapping should be closed until perpetrators are found and brought to book. As things are, the moment the victim is rescued or released with or without ransom, the law enforcers forget about the matter. This impunity breeds brazen courage recurrence of the problem.

Ketefe may be followed on twitter @Ketesco

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