The value system of Nigerians has, over time, changed drastically. In the past, life was considered sacred, such that a corpse could not be left by the roadside for more than a couple of hours without the authorities or even individuals taking action to evacuate it.
Nowadays, however, such scenes hardly evoke sympathy and revulsion. People can jump over such corpses, even while eating oranges or corn! This change in value system means some Nigerians have become reckless in their search for wealth, abundant wealth. While economists frown at any other way of creating riches beyond production and services, kidnapping, as a way of making good money was beyond their ken in this part of the world. But no longer.
First, the phenomenon began as a strategy to drive home the message of resource control in the oil-rich but marginalised Niger Delta. Soon, it was hijacked by people with pecuniary motive. Now, the circle of perpetrators has spread alarmingly to include an indeterminate range of culprits.
Children, parents and dependants of the rich are now often targets of kidnap for ransom, with the successful kidnap of one person and the response of the victim’s people with cash creating a domino effect.
This week, we present to our readers how many Nigerians make millions of Naira by kidnapping fellow beings. The story was written by Assistant Editor, SYLVESTER ASOYA.
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Nigeria’s littoral region, the Niger Delta, has, in recent times, been a boiling cauldron, with militants disrupting the activities of multinational oil companies in a bid to get a better deal for the impoverished citizens of the vastly polluted region. To curb this violent agitation, the federal government has adopted different strategies, all of which have failed.
Sargent Werrenipere Digifa, Chairman, Supreme Council of Egbesu Assembly, a militant Ijaw socio-cultural group, told TheNEWS that unless government addresses the long-neglected problems in the Niger Delta, his people will not stop fighting. The interview is published in this edition.
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