Kidnapping: Saraki Urges Global Collaboration

• Saraki, who was the convener of the dialogue series, said though kidnaping was not new in Nigeria, the current trend of kidnapping for ransom, without any ideology was worrisome.

Former President of the Senate Bukola Saraki has advised Nigeria to find solution to kidnapping through collaborations with countries that had successfully tackled the menace.

He urged the country to learn from these successful countries’ experiences and measures adopted in addressing it.

Saraki

Saraki gave the advice on Friday during a webinar on the maiden edition of the Grow Nigeria Conversation (GNC), monitored in Abuja.

The webinar was titled: ‘Reversing the Flourishing Economy of Kidnapping and Banditry: Immediate and long-term solutions’.

The event was organised in partnership with The African Political Institute (TAPI) and Adopt A Goal for Development Initiative.

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“It bears stating that kidnapping is not uncommon global phenomenon. Other countries, in the course of their respective histories, experienced similar problems.

Bukola Saraki

“Nigeria can and should definitely learn from such nations as have successfully combated this form of insecurity.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel in this regard. This is why my first contribution to today’s discussion is to ask the question:

“I remember in the 70s and 80s, Pakistan, for example, used to experiences large number of cases of kidnapping, we can learn from the experience and how they dealt with this problem,” Saraki said.

The former Senate president also called on youths, especially those with vast skills in Information and Technology (IT) to help deploy their knowledge toward addressing the challenge.

“It would be interesting if some of our experts, particularly our youth, who are participating in this discussion, especially the IT gurus, to tell us why in today’s world, the problem is not tackled.

Saraki

“Also, how is it possible that a huge amount of money can be paid as ransom in cash and cannot be traced?

“Are we saying that they’re not monetary policies that can be put in place that would deter people from having to be in such possession of such huge amount of cash,” he said.

He also stressed the need to address the challenge of human resources and deployment in the country’s security architecture.

Saraki expressed optimism that the outcome of the webinar would help in solving the country’s security challenges.

He pledged that the recommendations would be sent to relevant stakeholders for implementation, including government agencies and CSOs.

Saraki noted that the platform was conceived as a nonpartisan solution driven and real time dialogue series.

He said it was designed to engage young people, experts, professionals, and anyone with quality ideas in diagnosing the problems and offering workable and sustainable answers.

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