CUBING THE MENACE OF KIDNAPPING IN NIGERIA

By ‘Seun Adeogun

16 June 2011.

It’s really disheartening to have heard the news of five abducted serving youth corps members (National Youth Service Corps Members) kidnapped in Ikwere local government area of Rivers state few days ago. It made me remember the gory incident of top journalists abducted in like manner in Port-Harcourt close to a year ago. This unfortunate and reoccurring incident requires urgent attention on the part of the various security agencies and government of the day. Such as this incident coming at a time when the NYSC is facing unwarranted challenges and widespread criticisms on its essence is uncalled for. Nevertheless it brought to the fore one more reason why the NYSC scheme needs to be reviewed or better still eradicated. 

Up on till the writing of this piece, the abductors, who earlier demanded for 100 million naira, had reduced their ransom to 10 million naira and perhaps the security agencies are yet to find a clue to rescuing the victims. 

I also use this medium to challenge our leaders and Nigerians alike on the need to solve societal problem from the fundamentals before the kind of change we envisioned within the society can be realised. Some of the fundamental issues that require urgent attention include:

The Need for Role Model Leaders. Everything is said to rise and fall on leadership. Most of our problems today have been caused by competence and character failure amongst our past and present leaders. Our polity needs a renaissance. We need leaders who can envision a developed nation, have the capacity to demonstrate personal character, have the passion and are ready to discharge duties in line with the natural and national core values at various levels of governance.

The Need for Value Re-orientation. There is value erosion in our nation today. The culture of materialism has eaten deeply into the Nigerian system. This culture needs to be de-emphasized in all ramifications. Religious institutions have cogent role to play in this regard. We seem to be very religious but not spiritual. Corruption must be strictly abhorred and culprits dealt with zero tolerance. The lip service and media persecution used in fighting corruption must stop. Corrupt public officers should be duly persecuted in accordance with the law.

The Need to Revive the Economy. The nation is yet to recover from the economic downturn. Policies that can turn around the harsh economic condition witnessed all over the nation must be put into place. The problem of massive unemployment should be solved. Recently, it was discovered through a study conducted by the Lagos chambers of commerce that about 90% of youths are presently unemployed in Nigeria. The instinct for survival is the strongest in man. When a man has no means of livelihood, he looks for possible means to survive. Jobs must be created and small scale businesses need massive support from both the government and the private sector. 

The Need to Strengthen the Nation’s Security. Capacity of the national security outfits must be developed. The men of the Nigerian police force need re-orientation and should be equipped with modern security apparatus to combat crime at all levels. They need adequate compensation and good welfare package should we desire to get the best from them.

It is high time we stopped deceiving ourselves on ways to tackle the criminality within the nation. Kidnapping amongst other criminal offense on the increase are offshoots of leadership inadequacies, misplaced values, complacency on the part of the followers and economic hardship witnessed within the nation. We must become the change we seek in the world. In the word of Albert Einstein, ‘’the problems we created cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were when we created them’’.

We can’t continue to see our leaders’ loot and misappropriate public funds while the populace live in penury. It time to stop traveling on the wrong road.