When kidnapping becomes an industry

By Tony Onyima

By any objective measure, Nigeria is facing a grave national emergency. Yet the country appears to be responding to it with a disturbing sense of normalcy.
Almost every week brings fresh reports of abductions. Schoolchildren are seized from classrooms. Travellers disappear from highways. Farmers are kidnapped from their farmlands. Worshippers are attacked in places of prayer. Communities are forced to negotiate with criminals for the freedom of their loved ones. What was once regarded as an occasional security challenge has evolved into a thriving criminal enterprise that now threatens the foundations of the Nigerian state. Soon, it may become expedient to add ranso...