Why Kidnapping is growing in Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday July 14, 2014 at 10:5:10:

Ever since the Militant group from South south introduced the idea of kidnapping people and holding for a hansom, the issue of kidnapping is still a major vice in Nigeria. People are being kidnapped in their numbers daily, both report and unreported cases and in fact, kidnapping is now jokingly said to be one of the very lucrative businesses in Nigeria today. Kidnapping involves holding a person against his or her will. And calling the person’s relatives to demand for a huge amount of money before the person will be released.

1. Lack Of Employment and Job Opportunities: There are millions of graduates in Nigeria that are unemployed, and many more that are under employed that is working below the pay standards they expect, and most of these people are supposed to be bread winners in the family, after many years of being frustrated without a job, they can opt to enter the game of kidnapping to raise a little money to sustain themselves, and when they find out that there is more to be made from kidnapping, they decide to continue with it,, this also applies non graduates with no clear means of income.

2. Do or die Politics: Some of the kidnapping cases are politics related. In Nigeria, the games of politics is a win or die affair especially when major elections are fast approaching, a Politician may decide to kidnap an opponent just to teach him a lesson or raise quick money for campaigns.

3. Empty uninhabited houses: There is a growing number of uninhabited houses in Nigeria and this is common in both the urban and rural areas. Many real estate companies an investors build homes but it remains mostly inhabited either because of the high price or because the owners have not yet moved in and this homes are normally used by kidnappers to imprison their victims. It's also common for kidnappers to use homes in the villages that are mostly uninhabited for most parts of the years by the owners who live in cities.