02/06/2024 – 14:36
A country in West Africa is experiencing a security crisis generated by Islamist groups or gangs driven by economic desperation. More than 3,600 people were kidnapped in a period of one year. The practice of kidnapping in Nigeria has evolved to such a point that it is now considered a serious threat to public security, as it has become a source of income for criminal organizations and radical Islamist groups.
In one of the most recent cases, armed men kidnapped more than 160 residents of the village of Kuchi, in the state of Niger, in the central region of the country, killing ten people.
Local authorities stated that the criminals, who arrived at the village on motorcycles, are suspected of belonging to the terrorist group Boko Haram, which has been generating terror in the country for some years.
The NGO Amnesty International (AI) warned that Kuchi’s case is yet another indication of the “absolute failure” of the Nigerian authorities to protect the population. “They left rural communities in Niger at the mercy of armed groups that kill and kidnap people daily,” said the organization in a post on the X social network.
Peter Obi, presidential candidate for the Nigerian Labor Party in the 2023 elections, states that the constant attacks on villagers – mostly farmers – generate negative impacts on the country’s food production.
“We must not allow insecurity to interfere with the country’s agricultural activities and leave even more people in a situation of poverty and hunger”, he warned.
Between July 2022 and July 2023, at least 3,620 people were kidnapped in Nigeria, according to an analysis by SBM Intelligence, a consultancy company specializing in African issues. Mass kidnappings are also common, with an average of six people being taken in each occurrence.
Who is behind the kidnappings?
Several different groups are involved in the kidnappings, such as some criminal militias and armed gangs that have emerged in the northwest region of the country.
Over the last two decades, these groups have evolved from traveling gangs involved in local crimes, such as cattle theft, to criminal organizations involved in drug and weapons trafficking, and which have started to carry out mass kidnappings of children in rural schools demanding payment. of rescues.
The north and northwest of the country are full of Islamist militias, such as the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram – the latter became known for the kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in the village of Chibok, in 2014.
Boko Haram often targets girls and women who often live in boarding schools or university dormitories.
Several armed groups operate in the Niger River Delta region, considered one of the most polluted regions on the planet. Many of these organizations have roots in militias formed in the 1990s that aimed to pressure the government to deal with pollution caused by oil exploration and the poverty that worsened after the region’s farms were ruined.
What do the kidnappers want?
Many of the kidnappings are motivated by economic desperation. Kidnappers, in most cases, ask for sums of money as ransom, although sometimes they demand stocks of food, motorcycles and even gasoline in exchange for the kidnapped people.
Motorcycles are “a tool with less economic demand for many unemployed young people in the north of the country and easy to use in terrorist attacks”, states an SBM intelligence report.
Sometimes, however, kidnappings can be politically motivated. Many in the country see Boko Haram’s actions as a way of demonstrating strength, both to the government and the Nigerian population.
Others, however, say that the actions of Boko Haram – whose name literally means “Western education is a sin” – against young students in schools and universities is a means of intimidating girls and women into continuing with their studies.
Who are the targets?
Kidnappers tend to act against different groups. There are the most vulnerable, such as women out to collect firewood, children in schools or the population of unprotected villages in remote regions, far from the police or security forces. These, in most cases, are mass kidnappings.
There are also higher value targets, such as members or former members of the government, their families, people from the upper class and politicians. Although the kidnappings of foreigners who work in the oil industry are highlighted in the media, government authorities, children of illustrious people and other people from the wealthier classes also attract criminals.
Catholic priests have also become a risk group, with some of them being taken by criminals even during masses. The kidnapping of 21 priests between July 2022 and June 2023 is a sign of how priests are seen as a lucrative source of income due to the resources accumulated by the Church.
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