Nigeria security architecture needs total overhaul, Lanre Ogundipe 

Former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Lanre Ogundipe, has said the damming disclosure by the National Bureau of Satistictis (NBS) that N2.23 trillion was paid to kidnappers as ransom to bailout victims within 12 calendar months confirmed that Nigeria is no longer safe.

Ogundipe in a press statement while stating that the staggering sums of money are 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.

According to him, “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 with the estimated total ransom paid at 59.74 per cent 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 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 as 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 a 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.”

The statement read, “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, 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.”