- Should that be the key to taming kidnappings?
The Margaret Emefiele kidnap, from which the police recovered N14.7 million from abductors, shows again how the kidnap phenomenon has grown into a sophisticated, though illicit, industry.
Mrs Emefiele is the spouse of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele. Coming from the checkered track of the kidnapping of the mother of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, finance minister and coordinating minister for the economy under President Goodluck Jonathan, it is getting uncomfortably clear that even the high and the mighty are not safe from the scourge.
Indeed, to the Nigerian high net-worth, Poke Toholo’s theory appears to apply. Poke Toholo was the fictional villain, in James Hardley Chase’s crime bestseller, Want To Stay Alive? who announced he had found the formula to open the pockets of the rich — and the spoilt. Fear!
For the kidnappers, therefore, raw fear appears the lethal hook, by which they can prise money from their victims — and the richer the victim, the better.
However, the law enforcement agencies, whose onerous chore is to spring kidnap victims from their abductors, appear to have made their peace with the inevitability of ransom. Ransom, after all, is the nourishment from which the crime grows and fattens.
That was clear from the Margaret Emefiele kidnap. News reports talk of security agencies’ retrieval of huge ransom money, rather than the usual claim (hardly believed by anyone) that the kidnap victims were freed without any ransom.
Even then, the actual ransom paid (even as bait) was kept under wraps, so it is not impossible that some of the yet-to-be-arrested members of the Emefiele kidnap gang, could well escape with their share of the loot.
To many strict law-and-order minds, the very notion that the security agencies pay kidnappers ransom, for any motive whatsoever, is evidence of failure.
But is it? To start with, the police and the Department of Security Services (DSS) are no magicians. It is best kidnappings are averted. But if that is not the case, then someone has to play, at least temporarily, to the rogue rule of the kidnappers, to ensure the safety of the victims in their vicious grip.
But with the right technology, handing kidnappers money could well be the first deliberate step in foiling the crime. So, the first step is for the Nigerian state to build the capacity to track these criminals, even as they hold their victims. That technology is available; and the security agencies should invest in it.
Then, a fool-proof capacity to track and recover the money. Again, such tracking devices are available. But what could be missing, in the mix, is stemming the penchant to panic, with the victims’ families rushing to strike own deals with the criminals.
While such panicky moves have led to the release of some victims, though with the families losing huge money, some families have ended up losing their money and the life of the kidnapped, in other cases. Such cases of double jeopardy are just too grim to contemplate. Yet, they sometimes happen.
So, even as Nigerian security agencies invest in tracking devices, they must scale up public enlightenment on the trauma of kidnap. Families must be coached to stay calm, alert the security agencies and do as they advise. If people can rein in their panic, the battle against kidnapping would have been half-won.
In the final analysis, kidnappings are best averted. That means more security consciousness, on the individual, family and corporate levels. So, everyone, household or corporate, must be far more conscious of, and be schooled in safety and security.
But as prevention is always better than cure, a sounder economy, better job opportunities and general prosperity would, other things being equal, reduce the rate of general crime, and bring down the incidence of kidnapping. The government should therefore intensify its economy-recovery tactics and strategies.
That, however, would be in the middle or even long run. Even with the present economic morass, the government should show kidnappers that kidnapping is futile by ensuring, effective tracking and recovery.
