Kidnappers and hostage takers pocketed ransoms of over $100 million (about N15 billion) between 2006 and 2008, the Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, said in Abuja yesterday.
Speaking at the first summit of Alex Ekwueme Foundation International summit entitled “Resolving Kidnapping, Hostage Taking and Local Terrorism in Nigeria”, Okiro said an Exective Bill to tackle the menace would soon be sent to the National Assembly by the Presidency.
He said the new bill would recommend life sentences for culprits, explaining that it is only when there is death in the hands of the kidnappers and hostage takers that there would be death sentence.
According to the police boss, “death sentences on the culprits would harden the kidnappers”.
Okiro listed other terms of sentences on the kidnappers as would be contained in the bill.
“Any one involved in ransom-taking, abetting or aiding kidnapping and involved in negotiating for ransom would be liable to life sentence on conviction,” he said.
He said that the new law if passed by the National Assembly would give 15 years sentence to any one who conceals information about kidnappers and hostage takers.
Apart from the life sentences to convicted kidnappers, Okiro ruled out the options of fine for those convicted.
He gave a statistics of those kidnapped in the country as 128 persons with one 126 released and one dead and another with four fingers chopped off.
According to the Okiro, so far over $100 million has been paid as ransom money between January 2006 and January 2008.
He accused the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) as the mastermind behind all kidnappings in the Nigeria.
He said MEND used kidnapping and hostage taking as a source of fund raising, while over $200,000 is usually the ransom money per head.
Vice-President Jonathan Goodluck disclosed at the summit that though the Executive Bill may not wipe out kidnapping and hostage taking, he was optimistic that it would ensure the reduction of the crime.
According to Dr. Jonathan, “government wants to resolve this matter of kidnapping and hostage taking by sending a bill to the National Assembly because it has brought Nigeria to almost its knees.”
The Vice-President lamented that criminals in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country took to kidnapping and hostage taking because of their “commercial interest”.
He lamented that kidnapping has great negative effects on the economy of the nation as its has led to the reduction of production of crude oil and increased migration of Nigerians to Abuja, Ghana or other parts of the world.
“Those who take to the crime of kidnapping and hostage taking are fully armed more than the nation’s security officials,” he said.
Also, former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, urged government to consider adopting stiffer measures to stern the menace of negative implications of kidnapping and hostage taking in Nigeria.
Anyaoku, who was the chairman of the occasion, tasked government to renew and review its strategy against kidnapping and hostage taking.
According to Anyaoku, Nigeria should consider what he described as “the Mexico example” where government created special anti-kidnapping squads, specially trained and specially equipped with suitably sophisticated facilities.
Anyaoku also challenged government to deal with the social and political issues that motivated the criminality of kidnapping and hostage taking.
He described kidnapping and hostage taking as having negative influence on the economy, peace, stability and security of life in Nigeria, stating that they are great disincentives to foreign investment and partnership.
In his comments as the patron of the foundation, Ekwueme said kidnapping and hostage taking have reached an alarming proportion in the country to the extent that a state government is recommending death sentence for all those convicted of the offence.
He urged the federal government to sit up and tackle the increasing tide of kidnapping
The Director-General of the Foundation, Dr. Duke Igwilo, said people are no longer free in some parts of the country, while the economy has the bad effect as it drives away investors.
The high point of the summit was the presentation by a former British hostage, Terry Waite, who was held hostage in Lebanon for five years, four of which was in solitary confinement. His paper, “Achieving preferable Outcomes to Kidnapping and Hostage Taking in Nigeria: Lessons from Global Examples”.
Also, Dr. Cleo van Velsen, a consultant forensic psychotherapist, presented another paper entitled “Unders-tanding the Mind of a Kidnapper and Hostage Taker”.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is stepping up efforts to tackle illegal activities including oil bunkering in the Niger Delta, a problem that has led to the loss of not less than $500 billion in the last five years.
THISDAY learnt that several training exercises between the United States Navy and its Nigerian counterpart are scheduled for this year in order to improve the capability of Nigeria to manage its maritime environment and fight oil bunkering.
USS Nashville, a US amphibious ship which left the shores of Nigeria on March 27 will return to Lagos as soon as June for this effort.
The USS Swift, a high-speed vessel, will be in the Gulf of Guinea this summer followed by the US Coast Guard cutter Legare.
Also, USS Gunston Hall, another amphibious ship will be in the West coast of Africa late in the year.
Director for Policy, Resources and Strategy of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, Rear Admiral William Loeffler, told THISDAY that the maritime collaboration would improve capacity in the entire Gulf of Guinea.
“By training the Nigerian Navy, in particular and helping them improve their capability and capacity, that will provide more security in the Gulf of Guinea, and so the more security there is there, the less opportunity there will be for people to do illegal activities, such as oil bunkering or illegal fishing, smuggling, either people or drugs.
“So that will improve the security environment for Nigeria, as well as the other countries of the Gulf of Guinea. This is a building block approach. This is an enduring effort. This is not just a one time effort.”
Although, Loeffler described the Nigerian Navy as “capable”, he argued that Africa as a whole is land centric, providing little support for navies and coast guards.
THISDAY gathered that the training was made possible by the Africa Partnership Station (APS), an international security co-operation initiative.
APS, a naval component of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), covers the entire West African region. It expanded to East Africa for the first time in February 2009.
USS Nashville started its journey in Senegal and proceeded to Ghana and Nigeria. It will dock in Gabon before returning to Senegal. The ship was stationed in Lagos for some weeks before leaving in March 27. It has staff from 10 African countries, seven European nations and South America.
The frequency of training exercises may point to the level of maritime challenges faced by the country. The programme is also carried out at the request of the Nigerian Navy, Gabon and Guinea, said Loeffler.
Loeffler noted that APS does not have a “lasting footprint”. Its operation is based on individual country request, terminating at the end of each mission.
Asked whether US interest in the Gulf of Guinea is strictly tied to its oil reserves, he responded thus: “Well, Africa, as a whole, has always been a strategic importance to the world and in this day and age as oil resources are used for the benefit of the country, security in that region is a benefit to all people, not just the Africans in the Gulf of Guinea, but throughout the world.”
Commenting on AFRICOM, he said the command has no intention to build a base on the African continent. This is a clear departure from the earlier decision to launch their headquarters in an African country.
Naval Forces Europe and Africa is headquartered in Naples, Italy. They do the full spectrum of maritime operations from capacity-building, theater security cooperation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief to kinetics if required, stated Loeffler.
Apart from West Africa, the USS Robert G. Bradley has been up the Eastern Coast of the continent starting in Maputo, Mozambique and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Comoros Islands, Mombassa, Kenya and Djibouti.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=139740

Nigerian government officials and lies.

So they have finally agreed that those hostage takers get money for releasing hostages.

I won't be surprised to hear that the officials get part of the deal.

What am I saying?
An official of the Akwa Ibom state was implicated in deal when his wife was arrested paying "marked" currency into her husbands account after "successfully" negotiating a release of hostages in the state last year.