An Unhinged Security Situation

I was doing some research on a paid piece I am writing on insecurity in the Sahel and saw that there’s an update on those captured during the March 28 Abuja-Kaduna train bombardment

It startled me.

On Monday, Daily Trust reported that the terrorists released 7 victims but not without collecting huge ransom.

The families of each of the six Nigerian victims paid ₦100 million, while the captors pegged the ransom for a Pakistan national at ₦200 million.

That’s ₦800 million. $1.3 million if you use market rates, and $1.9 million if you use the CBN rate

Only ₦200 million was collected in naira, the remaining ₦600 million was paid in the equivalent of US dollars.

Ah!

If these guys are making about N1 billion — about $2 million — from one transaction, that means they will easily have N5 billion in their covers.

This is significant funding that will strengthen the group to carry out more attacks either in support of ideological causes or stage more mass abductions to raise more funds.

Imagine how much wealth transfer is happening right now.

What big assignments are these terrorists stockpiling huge funds for?

How are the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not able to trace these funds and cut off these illegal finance flows?

My research shows that the UAE investigates and prosecutes more Nigerians accused of terror financing than our local agencies.

It does seem that the government has given up efforts to get a handle on the situation.

Be careful out there, guys.