OF SENATE AND RANSOM PAYMENT
The Senate bill against paying ransom to kidnappers
does not offer any solution
The Senate recently passed a bill criminalising payments of ransom to kidnappers. The proposed law, which amends the 2013 Terrorism Prevention Act, says anyone who pays ransom to kidnappers would face up to 15 years in prison. While this legislation may be good on the face value, we do not believe that the Senate applied any rigour in arriving at their decision. The timing of the bill, for instance, is inauspicious and the provisions do not address the problem that the lawmakers are trying to solve.
We must make it clear. There is no doubt that ransom payment (which is banned as a matter of public policy in several countries) fuels the kidnapping industry and where the law enforcement agencies are strong enough to protect their citizens, it cannot be encouraged. But under the prevailing situation in Nigeria today, outlawing ransom is a lazy approach, especially when operatives of security agencies often encourage families of victims to ‘cooperate’. In the absence of any concrete measures by the government to curb the activities of kidnappers and other terror groups that are holding the country by the jugular, what should families of victims do? Even more important, at least for the victims currently pining away, what security measures are in place to secure their release?
From security personnel to traditional rulers, school pupils and ordinary citizens, nobody is safe in the hands of these marauders. Kidnapping for ransom is the most pervasive violent crime across all geopolitical zones in Nigeria today. Statistics garnered from the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) reveal growing numbers of people kidnapped. While in 2017, there were 484 recorded kidnap victims, the figure grew to 987 the following year. By 2019 the figure had jumped to 1,386 before it more than doubled to 2,860 in 2020. And these are just recorded figures. While reliable statistics may not be available, hundreds of victims (may be thousands) are currently held by kidnappers in many forest reserves and other places across the country.
Indeed, according to a report by the Lagos-based risk analysis firm SB Morgen Intelligence, kidnapping in Nigeria is an extraordinarily lucrative enterprise with at least $18.3 million paid ransom between 2011 and 2020. The case of dozens of passengers, including children, abducted from the Abuja-Kaduna on 28th March is particularly pathetic. A fortnight ago, the abductors released a photo of a baby delivered by one of the train passengers. For the few victims who have regained freedom, their families reportedly paid hefty sums of money. Victims whose families do not have the means to pay the huge sums being demanded remain at the mercy of their violent abductors.
While ransom payment cannot be encouraged, the fact that the authorities offer no solution to the problem leaves victims and their families with no other choice. Only last week, President Muhammadu Buhari said that victims of the Kaduna train attack could not be rescued because they were surrounded by the criminals. So, what next? For how long will they remain in the hands of the blood thirsty criminals in the bush?
Overall, the Senate bill does not offer any solution to the problem of kidnapping in Nigeria. As NBA-SPIDEL Chairman Monday Ubani rightly said, the law does not reflect the reality of our country. “The truth of the matter,” he said “is that victims of kidnapping pay ransoms out of desperation and abject helplessness, knowing fully well that the State has failed and is unable to protect lives and property or secure the release of their loved ones from kidnappers’ den.”
It cannot be better said. Passing laws that cannot be enforced is not the way to address a serious national security challenge.
