How to end kidnapping, food shortage, boost economy within three months – Analyst tells Nigerian govt

A senior consultant and public affairs analyst, Abdulsalam Suleiman Izuagbe, has identified how the Nigerian government can end kidnapping, food shortage and boost the economy within the next three months.

Izuagbe said kidnapping and terrorism would be over in three months if the Nigerian government can take a cue from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, and direct citizens to give information regarding kidnappers in exchange for a bounty of N5 million.

Speaking with DAILY POST, the Sokoto-based analyst said urging informants to give information without revealing their identities would encourage Nigerians to expose kidnappers and terrorists around them.

According to Izuagbe: “There was a recent example from the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who said he was going to pay N20 million if they can get a kidnapper dead or alive, and after a while, they were arrested. These kidnappers act on information from their informants.

“The Nigerian Army and police, while trying to apprehend kidnappers and insurgents, will encounter ambush; what we are saying is this, if they can depend on informants, I want to suggest that the IGP, Chief of Defence Staff should put heads together and announce that a bounty of N5 million for wanted criminals and insurgents.

“You will discover that a lot of Nigerians will take it up because most Nigerians reside around these kidnappers; if the Nigerian government can order informants to give information using their phone numbers without revealing their identity, then in three months time, Boko Haram will vanish.”

On the issue of poverty ravaging Nigeria, he called for stiffer sanctions around the country’s borders to prevent the smuggling of food items out of the country.

He also urged the government to engage those responsible for illegal crude oil refineries in the SouthSouth rather than destroy them.

He pointed out that partnering with those operating illegal bunkering would improve the country’s economy and create legitimate wealth.

“Nigeria is never poor; we are blessed by God with everything in other parts of the world. All we need to do is to reorganize our Immigration, Customs, and police at our borders. A lot of vehicles cross our borders per hour, taking away scarce commodities. Three days ago, some trucks were arrested at a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic. This should be a permanent thing, no food should leave the Nigerian border when we are in need of food.

“Nigeria is a large country, and we need food. We have everything from God. There are illegal refineries and instead of treating this issue with some intelligence, they just keep bombing them. Nigerian refineries are not working, and somebody is refining something; you say it’s illegal, what makes it illegal? Let the government engage them on a BPP basis. The things they lack in these illegal refineries, let the government provide them so that these young men in the creek refining oil will be engaged,” he said.

Suleiman added: “The government should now enlarge it by employing more people. If what they are doing is bad they won’t have buyers, I want to suggest to the government to go into partnership with these people instead of destroying their refineries. The government should join up with them and provide those things they lack. If it’s because they are stealing, they should make them supply the market with the crude oil in Nigeria as this will affect the economy positively.

“We also have the illegal mining of solid minerals, which nobody is talking about. Precious stones are mined every day in Nasarawa State, in Anker Zamfara State, gold is mined daily. Nikel is mine in the FCT; even Uranium is being taken away from this country illegally.

“Since our economy is not working in Nigeria, which has caused the strife of petroleum products, we still hear of blowing up illegal refineries in the Southsouth when they have nothing to do; this is encouraging criminality. We can create wealth in this country, and what we need is three Ms – Man-Money-Material.

“Use the money from Crude oil to motivate man to get the material from the soil which will create wealth in this country. We don’t need to go to the US to borrow money, taking loans here and there; it’s an insult to our intelligence. A Nigerian man will be waiting for a white man to import rice to cook for his family. These are some of the issues we can work on, and in three months time we will have a new Nigeria.

“Have a place where you can travel without the fear of being taken away. What’s the reason for creating NIN? Why were we asked to link it with our phone number? Was it not to know where we were making calls from and assist the security operatives in getting signals? A kidnapper is negotiating with the family of the kidnapped and nobody is monitoring that discussion to know how to arrest them.”