Kidnapping is rampant in northern Nigeria. Bandits and highly armed terrorists are murdering, kidnapping, and terrorising poor villages.
The lawlessness grew out of years of farmer-herder strife, fueled by economic hardship, police inactivity, and government inaction.
To stop the violence, several northern state governments have negotiated contentious peace deals with bandit groups. However, many consider these agreements — which are commonly thought to include money — as just incentivising crime.
The UN says over 2,000 children and teenagers have been kidnapped in Nigeria this year. In Zamfara, 73 students were kidnapped from a secondary school in September. In July, 140 students from Bethel Baptist high school in Kaduna state were kidnapped, but 25 managed to escape.
According to Peter Hawkins, the director of UNICEF in Nigeria, insecurity is causing an education crisis, reversing improvements in student enrollment, especially among girls.
“There was a girls’ school in Zamfara where 300 girls were kidnapped, and the impact of that was the other parents saying, ‘We’re not taking kids to school.’ There is really a serious crisis in education that is happening today, but the impact will be over the next seven to 10 years for Nigeria,” says Hawkins.
Many victims of abduction groups have been disappointed by the lack of official help, and the fact that kidnappers are hardly ever prosecuted once ransoms are paid has sparked outrage.
