KADUNA, Nigeria – The kidnapping for ransom business is flourishing in Northern Nigeria, and school children are the hottest commodity.
Just before midnight on March 11, gunmen walked into a school about 300 meters from a military training college in Kaduna State and seized dozens of students from their dormitories. It took less than twelve hours before the hijackers addressed a now-familiar question through a pellet video posted on Facebook.
“They want 500 million Naira,” said one of the terrified hostages of the Federal College of Forestry, who is sitting in a forest clearing without shirts, amounting to about $ 1 million. Masked men using Kalashnikovs stepped between the 39 students – mostly young women – and then started hitting bullwhips.
“Our lives are in danger,” cried a woman. “Give them just what they want.”
On March 13, the Nigerian army thwarted an attempt to kidnap 300 students at a boarding school less than 50 km away. The next day, children were among a group of 11 people abducted from the city of Suleja, Nigeria.