Nigeria kidnappings break up families, keep children out of school

SBM Intelligence estimates that 7,000 people have been kidnapped throughout Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu took office in May.

Reuters

Garba Mohammad, Abraham Achirga and Giulia Paravicini

Esther Joseph, a clothes vendor whose daughter was kidnapped and released with ransom, in Kaduna

By Garba Mohammad, Abraham Achirga and Giulia Paravicini

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) -Esther Joseph said she went "almost mad" with anguish when her 13-year-old daughter Precious Sim was kidnapped from a northern Nigeria high school along with other students on July 5, 2021.

In the following days, she tried to go after the kidnappers in the surrounding forest, but army soldiers - alerted by fellow community members - caught up with her and brought her back.

In the end, she sold her meagre possessions - including pots, fans and a television set - and enlisted the help of her brothers and in-laws, as well as local church members, to pay a ransom of 2 million naira ($1,256) and secure her daughter's release.

Precious, kidnapped from the Bethel Baptist High School of Maraban Damish in Kaduna State, came home after one month in captivity, Joseph told Reuters.

The 51-year-old street hawker said that she has not fully recovered yet from the ordeal, and her daughter still suffers from panic attacks.

"Sometimes she gets agitated when you turn the light on. She jerks up in her sleep and runs to hold me. Heavy sounds scare her," she said in an interview in the town of Kaduna, northwestern Nigeria.

Kidnappings at schools in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram, which seized 276 students from a girls' school in Chibok in Borno State a decade ago. Some of the girls have never been released.

But the tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs without ideological affiliation seeking ransom payments, with authorities seemingly powerless to stop them.

With Nigeria's economy and poverty levels worsening, abductions have become an almost daily occurrence in recent years.

On March 7, 286 students - some as young as eight - and school staff were kidnapped by gunmen in Kuriga, a town in Kaduna State. Local authorities told Reuters on Wednesday that the captors demanded a total ransom of 1 billion naira, or just over $620,000, for their release. On Monday night, around 60 people were abducted in Buda, in the same state, residents said - bringing the total of those kidnapped across the country in the first two weeks of March to nearly 750, according to Amnesty International.

"Kidnapping for ransom has eclipsed other motivations for abductions, especially political reasons," research firm SBM Intelligence said in a July 2023 report.

Speaking about last week's mass kidnapping in Kuriga, Information Minister Mohammed Idris said on Wednesday that the government position was that security forces should secure the hostages' release without "a dime" paid for ransom. Paying to free hostages has been a crime in Nigeria since 2022 and carries a jail sentence of at least 15 years.

The kidnappings are tearing apart families and communities who have to pool their savings to pay the ransoms, often forcing parents to sell their most prized possessions like land, cattle and grain to secure their children's release.

While Precious returned to school and is now studying international relations in her first year of university, many other kidnapping victims drop out after being released, fearing they might be abducted again.

At least 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, the highest number in the world, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. That is due to insecurity, including abductions and a long-running insurgency in the northeast.

Kidnappings are "a major driver of withdrawal of children from schools in northern Nigeria," said Isa Sanusi, director at Amnesty International in Nigeria.

"No parent wants to go through the horror of having children abducted by ruthless gunmen... On and off, schools are closed due to security concerns and the children end up missing out on education. Because girls are usually raped when abducted, many girls have been withdrawn from schools and married off at an early age."

GUNMEN ON MOTORBIKES

SBM Intelligence estimates that 7,000 people have been kidnapped throughout Nigeria since President Bola Tinubu took office in May.

Successive Nigerian governments have deployed soldiers and bombed suspected hideouts used by armed groups, mainly in Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina states.

But that has not stopped the kidnappings. Gunmen on motorbikes control large swathes of land. Schools in remote rural areas, often unfenced and with minimal, if any, security, are an easy target.

Sanusi said that it was difficult to get accurate figures for school kidnappings. He said that, according to Amnesty's findings, more than 780 children were abducted for ransom in 2021 alone. And as of 2022, more than 700 schools were closed in seven of Nigeria's 36 states.

"Some schools have reopened, while others remain indefinitely closed," Sanusi said.

Emmanuel Audu-Bature, a member of a vigilante group, remembered going to the bush with another vigilante to bring the ransom for his brother-in-law Treasure, 12, to his kidnappers.

"He was the only one left to be released and we had to take the ransom to the forest. In the process we were also kidnapped. After a week they released us, after we too paid a ransom," he said.

Treasure came back home a year later, he said. "We had already given up (hope). But there was this night when my mother-in-law called me and told me: 'Treasure is back'."

(Reporting by Garba Mohammad and Abraham Achirga in Kaduna, Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi; writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

What is the impact of Nigeria's almost daily kidnappings?

STORY: When her 13-year-old daughter Precious Sim was kidnapped from her high school in northern Nigeria in 2021, Esther Joseph says she went "almost mad" with anguish.

She says her daughter still suffers from panic attacks.

‘’Sometimes she jerks up in her sleep and runs to hold me, she is scared of the light bulb. The fear seems to be reducing a little but she gets agitated at any loud sound, if I shout at her she gets scared and it is because of the experience in the bush like how they were shooting or treating them. She is still scared.’’

With Nigeria's economy and poverty levels worsening, abductions have become almost a daily occurrence in the country.

They were first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram a decade ago.

But the tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs without ideological affiliation seeking ransom payments.

And authorities seem unable to stop them.

On March 7, 286 students and school staff were kidnapped by gunmen in Kuriga, a town in Kaduna State.

Local authorities told Reuters on Wednesday (March 13) that they had demanded a total ransom of 1 billion naira, or just over $620,000, for their release.

On March 11, around 60 people were abducted in Buda in the same state, residents said.

These kidnappings are tearing families and communities apart who have to pool their savings to pay the ransoms.

Parents are often forced to sell their most prized possessions, like land, cattle and grain to secure their children's release.

Precious returned to school after her mother sold her meagre possessions and got help from family and church members to pay her ransom.

But many other victims of kidnappings drop out after being released out of fear they might be abducted again.

UNICEF estimates that at least 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria - the highest number in the world.

Kidnappings are a major driver of withdrawal of children from schools, according to Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International's Director in Nigeria.

‘’Going to school now is now suicidal in many parts of rural northern Nigeria, and many teachers are fleeing their posts…their duty posts in local areas and rural areas because if they go back they are afraid that they might be abducted and their students might be abducted.’’

In remote rural areas, unfenced schools are an easy target.

Sanusi said that it was difficult to get accurate figures for school kidnappings.

But, according to Amnesty International, nearly 750 people have been kidnapped in the first two weeks of March alone.

Successive Nigerian governments have deployed soldiers and bombed suspected hideouts used by armed groups, but that has not stopped the kidnappings.

The country's Information Minister said on Wednesday that the government's position is that security forces should secure the hostages' release without paying for ransom.

Since 2022, paying to free hostages is a crime in Nigeria and carries a jail sentence of at least 15 years.