For years now, Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has evolved from being a normal communal farmers/herders crisis to an emboldened full-blown terrorism, scary and worrisome maiming, killings, mass abduction, and ransacked communities, as if the perpetrators live on Jupiter and there seems to be no end in sight.
The insecurity in Nigeria is heading to dangerous, unprecedented levels due to a deeply entrenched ransom payment by families to secure their loved ones after being forcefully taken away by outlawed groups. This is not just terrorism or banditry; it is a national emergency that threatens Nigeria’s chances of becoming a secure and economically viable nation.
In the latest wave of horror in the past months, terrorists stormed Government Day Secondary School, Musaa and Lassa, Borno State, kidnapping 78 schoolchildren and killing the school’s teachers. Six months later, 35 travellers were abducted on the Buratai-Buni Yadi road. In Dekena, Niger State, terrorists invaded Jumma’t mosque, abducting over 500 worshippers, among many other incidents.
There is silence from people saddled with responsibility of protecting lives and property, as if nothing has happened.
Speaking to BusinessDay Sunday, Hassan Musa Yati, spokesperson for the families of the victims who were abducted on April 16, 2026 along the Buratai/Biu Road, revealed that some of the relations of the victims have sold their properties and are ready to pay the ransom demanded by terrorists to free their loved ones.
“Some families spoke to me two days ago; they were able to raise the ransom, and the discussion is presently ongoing. In the next few days, some of them will be released once payment is made.
“They (terrorists) have asked families to pay for ransom directly and are not interested in talking with the government on the matter since two months ago. We even asked them to give us a price to get them together and at once, but they told us they are not fools and would not do that,” Yati said.
According to Yati, “Governments have abandoned us; so, everyone is on their own. We don’t have anyone to help us. Borno government is not saying anything, nor are the armed forces. We are dying in silence; someone should please help us.”
Read also: Endless massacre in Plateau, Benue question authorities’ capacity, sincerity
154 days without my abducted son is heartbreaking – Yohanna
Jadua Yohanna, one of the parents, said the children, 42 pupils from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School abducted on May 15, 2026, and 36 students and a teacher from Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, abducted on June 29, 2026 – have spent over 154 days in captivity.
He called on the federal government to expedite action to rescue the children, noting that some of the parents are currently sick due to uncertainty about their children in captivity.
He said: “Many of us are sick and battling with our lives; we are worried about the safety of our children. It has been more than 150 days since I last saw my son. It seems federal and state governments have moved on. Is it a crime to send one’s child to school?”
Audu Mamza, another parent wondered why the children abducted in Oyo State were quickly rescued while the Borno students remain in captivity.
“Why did you rescue the Oyo abducted children and neglect ours? We too are Nigerians. We are citizens of this country. The President needs to do everything possible to rescue our children.
“We need our children back and safe, nothing more; nothing less. We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to help us; we are helpless,” he begged.
Frightening numbers of abductions and ransoms
In 2024, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the most frightening ransom payment taking place in Nigeria was that Nigerians paid approximately N2.23 trillion as ransom between May 2023 and April 2024 alone to secure their loved ones from kidnappers.
Consequently, a report by SBM Intelligence also revealed that no fewer than 7,825 people were abducted in 1,713 kidnap and kidnap-related incidents between July 2025 and June 2026, while at least 1,142 people were reported killed.
The report, titled ‘The Capture of the Kidnap Economy’, also disclosed that N7.8bn was paid as ransom during the period under review.
Terrorists’ expanding territorial operations is worrisome
A security source expressed concern that the economic impact and the human cost across the North-East, North-West and North-Central regions are incalculable. Children who survived abductions struggle to sleep; farmers abandon fertile land; markets thin out; daily life becomes a negotiation with danger.
“People now budget not only for food, rent, transport, and school fees but also, increasingly, for survival contingencies in a country where kidnapping has become an “organised economic sector”. People are living in fear while plying highways due to fear of kidnappers.
He stressed that for years, kidnapping has metamorphosed into an organised crime.
“What we are witnessing now is utterly dangerous: an entrenched criminal economy with supply chains, logistics networks, expanding territorial operations, and sophisticated financial extraction mechanisms.
“From Chibok girls in 2024, we have metamorphosed into more dangerous ‘episomal’ crimes than ever. Many families are becoming poorer while bandits are flaunting money in the North West. It is sickening.
“The forests are no longer merely hiding places; they are becoming economic zones. In almost all parts of the country, fear now shapes movement, investment, agriculture, education, and transportation sectors. Terrorists are forcing people to pay billions as ransom in a country where feeding has become a challenge. It is a thing of concern,” the security source said.
FG should declare state of emergency on kidnapping
Meanwhile, Abubakar Mohammed Kareto, a public affairs analyst, has said that the recent cases, especially in Northern Nigeria, were indeed alarming.
He expressed the fear that no one is safe, be it in the urban settlements or farming corridors. Criminal syndicates and bandits now operate everywhere brazenly.
“To say the least, Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis has mutated from isolated crime into a pervasive, multibillion Naira illicit enterprise that spares neither the affluent in the city nor the impoverished in the rural areas.
“There is an urgent need for the government to act and curtail the situation. To disrupt this epidemic, the federal and state governments must proactively dismantle the operational and financial architecture of these syndicates, not reactively,” Kareto said.
He maintained that Nigeria must immediately institutionalise its intelligence systems and its general security architecture by deploying multi-sensor aerial surveillance, tactical drone grids, and strict geo-tracking across suspicious forest areas to deny armed gangs territorial refuge.
“The FG must choke the illicit financial pipeline by aggressively leveraging its financial institutions like the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and telecom carriers to track ransom money trails across informal payment routes and enforce real-time SIM-NIN intelligence compliance.
“Lastly, the law and the administration of the criminal Justice system as it relates to kidnapping-related cases in Nigeria must enable and fast-track laws that ensure the swift conviction of both abductors and their urban logistics collaborators because as long as the cost of kidnapping remains low and the rate of judicial impunity remains high, the incentive structure will continue to attract violent crime,” he said.
Related News
