Nigerians want kidnappers to face execution

LAGOS

Government officials and lawyers in Nigeria have proposed tougher laws to curb kidnappings, with the death penalty being suggested.

Gangs in different parts of the West African nation hold citizens hostage for ransom.

The Cameroon-based African Insurance Organisation says kidnapping has become a monster in Nigeria.

“Nigeria is the kidnapping capital of the world, accounting for a quarter of global reported cases,” said AIO.

NYA International, a United Kingdom-based global risk and crisis management consultancy, places Nigeria at the summit of the five countries with the largest number of abductions between January and June 2015.

Another UK-based risk-control consultancy says Nigeria has risen to the fifth position in the world, behind Mexico, India, Pakistan and Iraq.

The deadly Islamic insurgency in the north and militancy in the Niger Delta have fuelled the problem.

In April 2014, Boko Haram terrorists seized 276 schoolgirls in Chibok Town in the northeastern state of Borno.

A total of 57 girls escaped in the next few months while 21 were freed this month, but nearly 200 are still in captivity.

With the suspension of the pipeline operation, mostly in southwest Nigeria, criminals no longer had access to the oil money and they resorted to terrorising ordinary citizens.

Kogi State police chief Abdullahi Chafe said kidnappers target elderly people with well-to-do children. They compel their children to pay ransom.

“The crime rate has dropped by about 70 per cent in the state as abductions and armed robberies no longer take place on highways. Gangs have resorted to targeting homes,” Chafe says.

HANG KIDNAPPERS
He adds that the stop-and-search and other security strategies introduced by police has paid off.

For reasons yet to be known, doctors are abductors’ prime targets.

Early in the year, doctors in Rivers State went on strike to protest abductions of colleagues.

Public figures are also major victims, with several cases reported in 2015 and 2016.

Akeem Gbadamosi, a security expert, says the department of state services needs to step up intelligence.

A private Bill sponsored by the speaker of the Lagos assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, wants kidnappers hanged. Recently, gunmen stormed Lagos schools and kidnapped children.

Attempt to kidnap will attract life imprisonment, the Bill says.

The Bill also provides that any person, who allows his or her premises or building to be used by kidnappers should be sentenced to 14 years in prison without an option of a fine.

Abia and Anambra states where abductions were common adopted the tough measures.