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In the West African country, criminal gangs and terrorists repeatedly kidnap people. Now the situation is getting worse.
Mass kidnappings are currently occurring repeatedly in Africa’s most populous country. A few days after the kidnapping of almost 300 school children, dozens of people were kidnapped again in Nigeria.
On Tuesday, 61 men and women and later an unknown number of people were kidnapped in Kaduna state in the northwest of the country, said MP Usman Danlami from Kajuru local government area on Wednesday.
287 girls and boys had previously been abducted from a school in the neighboring Chikun district. Since then, security forces and authorities have been trying to get her released. But they don’t know where the children are being held.
In recent years, kidnapping has become a business model.
Criminal gangs are suspected to be behind the kidnappings. The police announced on Tuesday that additional forces had been sent to search for the schoolchildren, but other approaches were also being pursued. According to local media reports, authorities are trying to negotiate with the kidnappers.
Thousands of people kidnapped
“Such an accumulation of major kidnappings is also unusual for Nigeria, especially the phenomenon of mass kidnappings,” says Marija Peran. She heads the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s foreign office in Nigeria.
Legend:
Mass kidnappings in Nigeria are increasing – also due to the miserable economic situation in the country. Image: Woman prays for the kidnapped children from her village.
Keystone/AP/SUNDAY ALAMBA
According to the consulting firm SB Morgen, 3,620 people were kidnapped in Nigeria between July 2022 and June 2023 alone, most of them in Kaduna. In the north and center of the country with more than 220 million inhabitants, both terrorist groups and criminal gangs repeatedly kidnap people. The aim is usually to extort ransom money, force recruitment or sexual violence.
Legend:
Almost exactly ten years ago, the abduction of 276 schoolgirls by the Islamist militia Boko Haram in Chibok in the northeastern state of Borno caused worldwide horror. Image: Protest by relatives in April 2014 in Abuja.
Getty Images/MacJohn Akende/Anadolu Agency
Authorities do not believe the current kidnappings are related. But one thing is clear: “They are taking place in a situation in which Nigeria is in a catastrophic economic situation,” reports Peran. “In recent years, kidnapping has developed into a business model.”
Legend:
Military vehicles in the village from which almost 300 children were abducted (March 7)
Keystone/AP
Nigeria is an ethnically and culturally diverse country. At the same time, the central government is trying to control the country from the capital Abuja, as Marija Peran describes. “The entire security apparatus is centrally controlled.” When violence, conflict or even kidnappings occur in remote parts of the country, the chain of command comes from the capital. “By the time we actually have to intervene, it’s usually too late.”
In addition, there is no actual police authority with various units and a state monopoly on the use of force in Nigeria. “Instead, in addition to the police and military, there are countless different security actors – including paramilitary units,” says Peran. Due to these overlapping responsibilities, operations are not only complicated, but there are also disputes between the actors over mandates – even open conflicts.
Poverty is rampant in the country – fertile ground for gang crime. Peran estimates that it is not religious fanatics like Boko Haram who are behind most of the current kidnappings, but rather criminal gangs. And they are operating their “business model” increasingly professionally.
A lucrative business
Some of the gangs operate across borders and have a densely branched criminal network. In addition to kidnappings, they also finance themselves through human trafficking and drug dealing.
There are also local gangs and self-proclaimed vigilante groups that operate throughout the vast country. “They also often team up to carry out these kidnappings,” says Peran. And ultimately, individuals sense their opportunity to enrich themselves in this way.