To pay or not to pay? Nigeria`s painful dilemma

By Kene Obiezu

In the eyes of Nigerians at home, and under the scorching scrutiny of the international community, Nigeria has become a shadow of itself, a departure from the devastating force many countries admired for so long.

An unavoidable question now dogs Nigeria`s efforts to combat terrorism, and the question borders on whether or not ransom should be paid to rescue hapless Nigerians when they fall into the hands of increasingly powerful and unaccountable non-state actors.

 Mr. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari recently waded into the conversation and controversy when he frontally accused Nigerians of fueling terrorism by paying ransom.  Mr. Shehu spoke as if out of a sea of options Nigerians always and mischievously choose to pay ransoms running into millions of naira to numberless and ruthless criminals.

 In what has apparently become a directive principle of the current administration, in April 2022, the Nigerian Senate amended the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 to outlaw the payment of ransom to abductors, kidnappers and terrorists for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned, or kidnapped.

 The amendment came complete with the stipulation of a fifteen-year jail term for anyone apprehended, tried and convicted for paying ransom to kidnappers.

A disturbing disruption

To say that terrorism in all its malevolent manifestations has altered the Nigerian reality for the worse would be to put it mildly. In just over a decade since Boko Haram decided to take the battle to the Nigerian state, the Giant of Africa has felt the scorching effects of what terrorism can do when allowed to sprout and sink its roots into any soil.

 Thousands have been slaughtered in Nigeria and millions uprooted from life as they knew it. Countless livelihoods have been obliterated just as fear has become commonplace in a country for so long only knew the pains of poverty but never insecurity.

In the eyes of Nigerians at home, and under the scorching scrutiny of the international community, Nigeria has become a shadow of itself, a departure from the devastating force many countries admired for so long.

This state of affairs no doubt has a lot to do with terrorism which has found very fertile grounds in Nigeria`s weak state structure and weakened security architecture, and is rapidly showing itself to be very prolific.

A derelict government

 In every country that has successfully fought battles and emerged victorious with trophies to show for it, whenever the challenges showed up, there was in place a decisive government that was at the forefront of marshalling forces and channeling resources to confront the existential threats.

 This singular factor has always proven invaluable in the fight against   scourges as big as terrorism. However, the terrorism which is relentlessly bringing the Nigerian state to its knees has thrived because it has barely lacked abundant provisions for its needs, one such major providers being  weak leadership and the attendant muted response to its challenge.

 As Nigeria`s democracy has struggled for more than two decades to take the country over the line of good governance, politicians have preferred to squabble, and then share resources corruptly snatched from public funds rather than face the serious business that governance is.

The effect has been that governance is often treated with kid gloves with little or no consequences to foster a system where incompetence feeds off ineptitude as both round up nicely into a vicious cycle.

 It is this culture of dereliction at the highest as well as lowest levels that has fed the nightmarish insecurity Nigeria is currently grappling with.

Nigeria`s security architecture apparently can no longer do enough to prevent terrorists from picking off Nigerians as hawks would pick off chicks.  Also, when Nigerians are adducted for ransom, security personnel cannot seem to do enough by way of rescue.

 This impossible combination of incompetence and ineptitude is what thickens into the dilemma Nigerians face when they or their loved ones fall into the hands of these terrorists.

A trillionnaira question

Because the Nigerian experience has often soured into a situation where the terrorists keep to their word and kill their victims when ransom is delayed or when security forces are involved, victims and their loved ones always panic when they are abducted. This is further compounded by the fact that many times, these terrorists even kill their victims after collecting huge amounts as ransom.

 The question then invariably becomes: if the authorities in Nigeria are unable to prevent the kidnap of people or are unable to safely rescue people when they are kidnapped, is there any basis to ask people not to do everything within their means to avoid what would be a certain death?

 As long as this question is not satisfactorily answered, those who have made a business out of kidnapping innocent Nigerians for ransom will continue to rake in huge profits to the detriment of Nigeria.

 Kene Obiezu can be reached at keneobiezu@gmail.com