Ransom paid, 279 girls back in their Nigerian School. Worrisome trend

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The president of Nigeria is angry that local authorities paid cash and cars to a 100-man gang of kidnappers who took 279 girls (at first reported as 317 children but it later turned out that many kids had hidden in culverts) from their school in the wee hours of last Friday morning.

FPM.news has not been able to unequivocally confirm those numbers.

The school children were taken from Government Girls Science Secondary School in the town of Jangebe. 

Kidnapping in Nigeria is a sloppy but lucrative industry. Many persons are never returning as in the case of the 14–15 April 2014, kidnap of mostly Christian female students, 276 of whom were kidnapped from a Secondary School by terrorist group Boko Haram. The number of children still missing is not exactly known, Nigerian authorities admit.

Voice of America in September 2019 revealed from an investigation it had conducted that  kidnappers demand between $1,000 to $150,000 as ransom and it is paid by the Nigerians. Other estimates reach upwards into the millions but on average about $200,000.

Follow-up report to: Whereabouts of Nigerian schoolgirls unknown as Saturday dawns

by Micheal John

Chibok Girls still missing since April 2014 Some Chibok Girls still missing since April 2014 when 276 were kidnapped by Boko Haram. 
Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway
Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine

Twenty-seven boys plus their teachers who were kidnapped from a school in Kagara, Niger state on 17 February 2021, later to be released on Saturday as authorities searched for the missing Jangebe girls.

The purported 279 children snatched from the Science Secondary School in Jangebe were taken away by a 100-strong team of kidnappers, according to local reports, which may in fact be exaggerated as several counts have been indicated by girls who had hidden in culverts watching events and making estimates of numbers all the while.

Kidnapping of school children is on the rise in Nigeria Kidnapping school children in Nigeria is a growth industry. Government is paying terrorists. Who is getting a cut? See: Whereabouts of Nigerian schoolgirls unknown as Saturday dawns
Photo Credit: Reuters Video Capture.
Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine

A may 2020 report by SB Morgen, of Nigeria sets out some information giving a range of kidnapping values.

“One reason why kidnap for ransom has come to stay is the economics surrounding it. The data available to SBM indicates that in US dollar terms, between the $545,000 paid to secure the freedom of Ernest Ohunyon in Edo state in November 2011, and the $6868 paid to free Ojo Ekundayo and Benjamin Iluyomade in Ondo state at the end of March 2020, at least $18,343,067 changed hands between victims and kidnappers.

“It is important to point out that in the earlier years, there were fewer incidents, and larger amounts changed hands. Now there are a lot more incidents for smaller amounts, but the sheer number of incidents, speaking to the democratisation of the kidnap industry, means that the kidnap economy now makes more money.

“An investigation by the Voice of America in September 2019 revealed that kidnappers demand between $1,000 to $150,000 as ransom, depending on the financial resources of the victims. Crime, in this case kidnapping, does appear to pay.

“Hamisu Bala, aka Wadume is another notable kidnap merchant but operates mainly in the North West and North Central (unlike Evans whose activities were focused on the south), in addition to supplying weapons to terror groups, cattle rustlers and militias across the North. Wadume was said to have made millions from ransom.”

Read the entire report: Nigeria-Kidnap-Report

 

The children are back after "negotiations" “Alhamdulillah! It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity. This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe,” said Dr. Bello Matawalle, Governor of Zamfara State, Nigeria
Photo Credit: Twitter. Public Domain.
Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine