Nigeria’s Tinubu says country will no longer pay ransoms to armed groups

Nigeria will no longer pay ransoms to armed kidnapping and extortion gangs plaguing the country, President Bola Tinubu said in an opinion piece on Monday.

He issued the statement as activists marked the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok. Acknowledging that “legitimate concerns” about kidnappings remain, Tinubu said Nigeria must address the root causes of poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity if it hopes to eliminate the threat posed by criminal gangs.

In a Newsweek magazine article titled “Ten Years After Chibok – Nigeria Will No Longer Pay the Price”, Tinubu said paying ransoms to gangs would only encourage gangs to commit more crimes, saying, “ “Extortion must be eliminated.”

The president said perpetrators of violence would receive counter-action from security services instead of ransom.

He cited the recent rescue of 137 kidnapped students in Kaduna State. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $600,000, but the president said no ransom was paid.

Ndu Nwokolo, managing partner of Nextier, a public consulting firm specializing in security and economic issues, agreed that paying ransoms would embolden criminals, but said Nigeria was not yet ready to take such a stance.

“The Nigerian government is clearly very incapable of doing what it claims to do. If you are someone, you have your power.” [relative] Being kidnapped, you know there is nothing the state security agents can do,” Nwokolo said. “We know those people are demanding ransom, how can you rescue so many children without shooting? The whole thing shows that there is no honesty, no transparency. ”

Tinubu said the government was slow to respond to the 2014 kidnapping in Chibok.

However, the President said Nigeria must recognize the changing nature of the threat. He said the gangs behind recent kidnappings were mainly seeking cash rewards, unlike Boko Haram, which is trying to impose Islamic rule.

In 2022, Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, tried to criminalize the payment of ransoms to kidnappers, but the decision was resisted by activists and victims’ families.

Security analyst Senator Irogbu said a lack of accountability on the part of the authorities was the main problem.

Irogbu said: “If practical and effective measures were taken to prevent this from happening, there would be no ransom in the first place. Why is it so easy for kidnappers to kidnap Nigerians and detain them for long periods of time? Ten years after the Chibok girl case, why Still, that’s not to blame the victims who tried their best to save their loved ones, which may have been their last resort.”

Tinubu said Nigeria must finally address the factors that drive insecurity, including poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity.

In the article, Tinubu also talked about his economic reforms. Nigeria’s president says they need to rescue public finances and encourage foreign investment.

Tinubu scrapped fuel subsidies to the public and introduced a naira float just days after taking office last year. Those decisions sent prices soaring and were widely criticized, but have yet to be reversed.

Tinubu said previous governments had failed to boost the economy and 63% of Nigerians were living in multidimensional poverty.

Irogbu said blaming his predecessor would not solve Tinubu’s problems.

“This mentality of trying to blame past administrations, thinking they did better but actually didn’t do something different, needs to stop until Nigerians can see and testify to the results,” Irogbu said.

The Nigerian president concluded the article by saying, “No more ransoms will be paid to kidnappers or to policies that have led to the economic devastation of our people.”