Discouraging Crowdfunding For Ransom Payment

Discouraging Crowdfunding For Ransom Payment

In Nigeria, kidnap-for-ransom has become an illicit business over the years.

There are frequent reports of violent attacks, resulting in the abduction of citizens, either along highways, rail tracks where terrorists hold sway or in the comfort of their homes.

According to an intelligence report released on august 23, 2023, between July 2022 and June 2023, three thousand six hundred and twenty people were abducted in over five hundred and eighty two kidnapping incidents in the country.

The report also revealed that the total ransom demanded was about five billion naira and an actual ransom payment of over three hundred and twenty million naira.

In a rather distressing trend, Nigerians are now resorting to crowd funding for ransom on social media to secure the freedom of their family members and relatives.

Crowd funding is a practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from many people who each contribute a relatively small amount, typically via the internet.

This trend came into force during the January 2nd, 2024, abduction of the Al-kadriyar family at their home in Bwari area council in the Federal Capital Territory.

The attackers were reported to have whisked away the father, mansoor al-kadriyar, alongside five of his daughters and a niece.

The abductors later released the
father to source for sixty million naira for the girl’s freedom.

However, the failure of the family to meet their demand within a deadline issued by the kidnappers led to the killing of Nabeeha Al-kadriyar, the eldest of the six sisters.

In response, Nigerians on social media started a crowd funding campaign to raise the ransom.

Moved with compassion and solidarity with the crowd funding for the kidnapped family, a former minister released a statement disclosing that a friend had promised to donate fifty million naira for the course.

Condemning the move, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, warned Nigerians to stop the payment of ransom to kidnappers and bandits, cautioning that the payment would only embolden the culprits to make more demands thereby jeopardising public safety.

The minister noted that there was an existing law that prohibited the payment of ransom to kidnappers.

In a similar statement issued by the Nigeria police force through the force public relations officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobí said crowd funding for kidnap ransom on social media is an illegal and punishable offense.

Mr Adejobi condemned the use of social media for crowd funding, stating that it hampers morale and undermines the system.

While applauding the staternent by the minister and the police, they should however remember the saying that he who wears the shoes, knows where it pinches.

It is also instructive to note that the fear of losing a loved one in a gruesome manner could jolt them in defying the existing order of not succumbing to ransom payment.

Though the act of crowd funding must be totally discouraged, however, the federal government on its part must reassure the citizens by declaring kidnapping a national emergency and invest massively in the security sector to tackle the menace promptly.

Special units in the likes of special weapons and tactics, SWAT, should be created within the military formations to respond to kidnap cases in a matter of minutes.

The military should also design an operation to periodically comb the nation’s forest as most kidnapped victims have revealed that they were kept in between the thick expanse of the forest.

A dedicated national telephone number should be made available to citizens to dial with far reaching sensitization on its use.

Furthermore, one of the best ways of solving crime is the use of fingerprints by forensic experts, it is therefore necessary for the federal government to harmonise the citizens biometrics such as those from national identity number, NIN, bank verification number, BVN, international passport, driver’s license, and Nigerian correctional service into a single database for easy detection of criminals.

By Jeffrey Ahonmisi, Edited By Grace Namiji