Kidnapping in Nigeria
Kidnapping is a major problem in Nigeria in the early 21st century. Kidnapping by bandits and insurgents is among the biggest organised or gang crime in Nigeria and is a national security challenge.
History
Political kidnappings
This refers to the political kidnapping which started in the petroleum industry in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region in the early 2000s:In the Niger Delta, agitators took expatriates working with multinational oil giants hostage, to force oil companies operating there to carry out community development projects for the benefit of the host communities or force government into negotiations for more of economic benefits accruing to the federal treasury for the region.
Boko Haram kidnappings
Kidnappings by jihadist terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria's northeast and northwest began in 2009 in concurrence with the conflicts in the region.Abductions by Islamist terrorist Boko Haram are to further its agenda, recruit fighters, instil fear, gain more international popularity and force the government to negotiate with it for ransom which is one of the means of generating funds for its terrorist operation. Boko Haram have committed several mass kidnappings of students.
Their 2014 kidnapping of 276 teenage girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, was covered extensively by the international media, making millions of people aware of that specific crime and of the insurgency. Boko Haram often demand that victims' families or the government pay them ransoms, or that the government release prisoners from their group. Boko Haram has brainwashed and forced some of the young people it has kidnapped into joining them and carrying out attacks, including suicide bombings. Boko Haram force many young female victims to marry them.
Commercial kidnappings
Kidnapping for ransom on a commercial scale became rampant in Nigeria in 2011 spread across all the 36 states and the country's capital, Abuja.In February 2021, Nigerian journalist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani wrote for the BBC News, "The Nigerian government seems to have suggested that it can no longer be relied on to keep citizens safe." In 2020, it was reported that in the span of the decade covering 2011-2020, kidnappers have gotten at least $18.5 million in ransom payments. In 2022, that figure stood at $1.12 million while $387,179 was paid in 2023.
Kidnapping cases
North-West
Kaduna State
- 18 January 2026: Gunmen abduct about 163 Christians after storming two churches in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
North
Zamfara State
Zamfara, one of the security dark spots in Nigeria is caught between herder-farmers clashes and kidnapping and banditry. In June 2019 a household was attacked by bandits seizing the man alongside his three wives and a 13-year-old son. In August the Director of Budget for the state was kidnapped while his deputy he had been travelling with was killed in the attack.In 2019 the governor of Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, initiated a peace and reconciliation plan to bring the bandits who attack and kidnap villagers back home offering them jobs in place of kidnapping and banditry. In August 2019 over 300 kidnapped victims who were held captive waiting for the payment of ransom on their heads by family members were freed. Days later another batch of 40 kidnap victims were freed.