The recent attacks by terrorists on critical government infrastructure in Kaduna has come as a shock to many, as in the space of 3 days, terrorists attacked the Kaduna airport and the Abuja-Kaduna train, leading to unconfirmed reports of casualties.
This unfortunate incident has already seen calls by the House of Representatives and the Senate to thoroughly investigate the cause of increased attacks.
Confidence MacHarry, Security Analyst at SBM Intel tells Nairametrics that with the use of rail transportation in Nigeria seen as an elite privilege, coupled with the fact that the Kaduna airport was shut down, the terrorists are forced to attack their victims for ransoms.
- The ransom industry has proven to be big business for the terrorists in the northern part of the country as a total number of 2,371 persons were kidnapped and the sum of N10 billion demanded in ransom in Nigeria in the first half of 2021, according to data sorted by sources from SBM Intel, Humangle, ThisDay, Leadership, DailyTrust, Premium Times, and the Nigerian Security Tracker.
- “237 people lost their lives in these kidnap attempts, Niger State saw the most attempt at kidnap (28), the highest number of kidnap victims (643), and the greatest number of people killed in attempts (58), Katsina, and Kaduna also followed with having the most reported cases” all this in the first half of 2021 alone,” the report added.
MacHarry says there is a possibility of increased attacks, citing that the Federal Capital Territory is as insecure as all of its neighbours.
“It is in a very sorry neighbourhood and the manifestation of such is clear–daily abductions in its outlying areas and towns such as Kuje, Kwali, Gwagwalada among several others.
“Two years ago, Nigerian Customs Service warned about an impending attack on the FCT. The military stationed officers in five locations for a few weeks and withdrew them. Almost immediately, the bandits returned. The point is, we already have terrorists crawling Nigeria’s federal capital.”
On major motivation for the increased attacks, he warns that “Insecurity thrives in the absence of a will to curb it”, citing that as much motivation as the proliferation of ungoverned spaces – many of the communities around the Abuja-Kaduna train route are not under the control of the government.
“Furthermore, the use of rail transportation in Nigeria is seen as an elite privilege, thus the terrorists are motivated to attack such infrastructure to milk the highest forms of ransom possible,” he says.
Earlier this year, the Kaduna state government revealed that for the year 2021, 1,192 persons were killed by banditry and violent attacks in the state and 3,348 people were kidnapped, while 891 others were injured within the year.
