With N2.23 Trillion Paid To Kidnappers As Ransom, Nigeria Security Architecture Needs Total Overhaul–Ogundipe

The damming disclosure of the National Bureau of Satistictis (NBS) has now confirmed that Nigeria is no longer safe, with the 2.23 trillion was paid to Kidnappers as ransom to bailout victims within 12 calendar months, Mr. Lanre Ogundipe has said.

Mr. Ogundipe former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalist ( NUJ) in a press statement who pointed out that this staggering sums of money is worrisome, argued that this further confirmed that Nigeria is in state anomies with total collapse of the economy and security structures.

The report according to him, showed the effect of the kidnapping crisis on the nation’s economy, saying, It is an indicator and the reasons why poverty is deepening in the country as the families are struggling to raise money to rescue their loved ones in the hands of criminals.

He further argued that families and Nigerians now, do not really have much to take care of themselves and pay school fees and take care of the health of their loved ones.

“This development, has contributed to the escalation of criminal activities because the criminals know that when they do this, they get money and it appears that they the criminals are on the winning streak. which is not good for the country.and it is not good for anyone.”

The former NUJ President, further said “It is worrisome that security forces have failed to safeguard Nigerians from criminals, thus, forcing citizens to pay heavy ransoms to secure the release of their loved ones.

“It’s a shame for Nigerian security to have failed in its main occupation, which is to protect lives and property of the citizens”.

He noted that in 2024, N3.85trn was allocated to the security and defence budget altogether. The estimated total ransom paid is 59.74 percent of the total security and defence budget.

“The Nigerian defense got N1.647 trillion; the police force got N970 billion; the Ministry of Interior was given N471.625 billion, while the National Security Adviser (NSA) received N288.750 billion.This further explained that ransom payments are having a destructive impact on Nigeria’s economy.”

Ogundipe pointed out that the majority of these funds circulate within the shadow economy, meaning they are outside formal financial systems and do not contribute to national development through taxation or other legal channels.

The unregulated flow of funds, he stressed, is undermining economic stability.

A lot of this money is circulated within the shadow economy.

The kidnappers don’t pay taxes naturally, so it’s destroying the economy, Ogundipe further argued.

According to him, the ransom payments also enable the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, as criminals use the proceeds to acquire more sophisticated tools to sustain and escalate their activities.

“This, in turn, worsens insecurity across the country.”

Ogundipe argued that the lucrative nature of kidnapping fuels a vicious cycle of criminality; while he lamented the role of weak compliance with financial regulations in enabling these transactions pointing out that Nigeria’s cashless policy, which could have helped trace ransom payments, is not fully implemented nor monitored.

He also took swipe on commercial banks and the failure of the fintech platforms to enforce Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol.

He observed further that many fintech services allow users to open accounts without proper identity verification, creating loopholes that make it actually impossible to trace transactions.

He said “Strict adherence must be enforced to strengthen the cashless policy these ingredients needs to be screw up by the bank operators in order to nib in board fraud stars and criminals and to enforce compliance.”

For instance, he pointed out that the estimated N2.23 trillion, which Nigerians paid as ransom to kidnappers in 12 months, is far in excess of the combined 2024 budgets of Ekiti (N521.5 billion), Gombe (N208 billion), Yobe (N216.95 billion), Kogi (N258.28 billion), Ondo (492 billion), which amounts to N1.69 trillion in total.

“This is just too bad for a nation said to be the giant of Africa and it encourages laziness and lacxities amongst our youths .

“It would be recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said he will overhaul Nigeria’s internal security architecture to boost performance operations and achieve better.

“The NBS disclosure had made nonsense of this year budget for defence.

“The amount surpasses the N1.647 trillion budgeted by the nation in 2024 for its Defense Headquarters, navy, army, air force, defense intelligence, Defense Industries Corporation, Military Pension Board, Air Force Institute of Technology Kaduna, and Defense College. “

With this revelation,he said “if Nigerians are paying more to kidnappers than the nation budgets for its defense, it is an indictment on his administration and italso a call to rejig our security and defense architecture.”