If we were to fix Nigeria: How do we deal with insecurity?

Last week, we started a series on fixing Nigeria, called “If we were to fix Nigeria”. Throughout the week, I got a reasonable amount of feedback highlighting what we should attempt next. But the Nabeeha Sisters point us in the next direction. 

In case you missed it: Al-Kadriyar Nabeeha, a 21-year-old final year student of Ahmadu Bello University, and her five siblings were abducted from their home in Bwari, a part of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, on the second day of the year. A member of the family was killed in an attempted rescue operation.

The bandits who kidnapped the sisters asked for a ransom of N60 million, which was to be paid before Friday, January 12, 2024. The family was able to raise almost N30 million, according to Daily Trust. Still, Nabeeha, one of the six was killed, and her body recovered as a message to the family on how serious the kidnappers were with their demands.

A family member has since taken to social media to raise the funds to pay the ransom. Nigerians have shared the account details via every platform possible. The new deadline for raising N100 million — the new ransom for the five sisters — is Wednesday, January 17, 2024.

Nabeeha was buried on Saturday, January 13, 2024, according to Islamic rites, but the pain of her brutal death is a symbol of how bad the security situation in Nigeria has become.

I feel so much pain that pivoting from this crisis is so difficult I want to quit writing this.

On record, more than 15 Nigerians have been kidnapped since the year began. This follows the pattern in 2023, where 844 people were kidnapped across the nation in just four months — January to April.

If by tomorrow — Wednesday — the ransom has not been paid or the sisters rescued, we could have another death on our hands and that will be heartwrenching. A new low. A national hostage situation.

IF WE WERE TO FIX THIS, WHAT DO WE DO?

Insecurity is both a criminal and economic issue. Some would argue that it is simply an economic issue. Others will disagree and say crime is crime and has nothing to do with economics.

Let’s assume that since kidnappers and bandits ask for “economic means” before they release their abductees, then this is an economic issue in there. Then the question we need to answer is “how do we ensure people have enough economically, not to resort to crime?”

The answer to this will send us down the rabbit hole, discussing education reforms, zero poverty strategies, and inclusive economic growth. As trivial as this answer may sound, I reckon this should be the long-term approach to solving insecurity in Nigeria.

For the other school of thought who believes crime is crime, a short-term approach to each criminal case is preferred. In this particular case, we would need to mobilise security agencies en masse to find the kidnappers and rescue the sisters. The Nigerian Police Force has attempted a rescue which was reported to have failed and led to death and injuries.

Hence, the solution may need to be a lot more surgical. The bandits have been communicating with the family via mobile phones, calling them at least twice, according to multiple reports. Those calls should be traceable to the kidnappers’ hideouts, especially in a country where number registration had gone on for years.

To trace calls and track kidnappers, security agencies will need sophisticated equipment and surveillance permissions. I have been involved in a tracking situation in the past — this incident was related to theft, not kidnapping. The police officers involved said the country at the time had only three of such equipment and two of them were no longer working optimally. The reliable one was in the possession of Nigeria’s secret police, popularly known as DSS.

If the DSS helps, and by competence or miracle, the security agencies are able to track the kidnappers, the next question becomes, how do we ensure that these ladies are not used as human shields, leading to the loss of lives of the ladies in such an operation?

There are many gory layers to Nigeria’s security challenges, but one that will take time to deal with is the lack of trust in the security agencies. Building that trust back is a long-term issue that needs to start in the short term.

Rescuing the sisters before any other death — and without ransom payment — will be such a relief to millions of Nigerians who have followed this story in pain or numbness of heart from too many such situations. It may also be the first step in renewing trust in security agencies

Beyond this particular incident, fixing insecurity in Nigeria needs to take the economic and criminal deterrence approach. Nothing breaks a father’s heart more than being helpless in the face of looming danger to his children’s lives. Nothing should break the presidency of Nigeria more than dealing with insecurity now.

How do you think we can fix security? Tell Mayowa on Twitter and across other social media channels @OluwamayowaTJ.