Why Terrorists Flock to Nigeria for Kidnapping – NCTC
Nigeria’s economic stature in West Africa has inadvertently made the country a prime target for kidnappers and terrorist financiers, the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Major General Adamu Garba Laka, has said.
Speaking during an end-of-year media interactive session in Abuja, Laka disclosed that Nigeria’s ability to pay high ransom demands has drawn criminal and terrorist elements from across the sub-region.
“If you look at the whole region, Nigeria is the richest country in West Africa,” Laka said.
“Nigeria is the only country where you kidnap somebody, ask for ₦100 million, and it will be paid. That is why these people come into this country to look for means of running their operations.”
He stressed that kidnapping in Nigeria has evolved into a transnational criminal economy, with ransom payments sustaining terrorist networks and funding wider insecurity across borders.
Despite the challenge, the NCTC coordinator said Nigerian security agencies have intensified efforts to dismantle the financial backbone of terrorism, revealing that ransom payments are now actively tracked, recovered, and used to prosecute terror financiers.
“We track ransom payments, we recover funds, and we make arrests,” he said. “Such information is security-sensitive, so we cannot disclose all details, but I can assure you that many people have been arrested based on ransom payments and prosecuted in court.”
Laka linked Nigeria’s recent exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List to these efforts, noting that counterterrorism financing investigations played a decisive role in meeting international compliance benchmarks.
Under the framework of Presidential Implementation Order 9, he said a Joint Investigation Committee was established, bringing together the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), judiciary, police, military, and other agencies to target ransom-linked terror financing.
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“We provided FATF with evidence of cases handled, assets seized, funds recovered, and prosecutions concluded. These were part of the requirements that helped Nigeria exit the Grey List,” he said.
The NCTC coordinator also raised concerns over the abuse of Point-of-Sale (POS) operators as conduits for ransom payments, explaining that kidnappers increasingly use third-party accounts to collect funds anonymously.
“A victim transfers ransom into a POS operator’s account, and the kidnappers simply go and collect the cash,” he explained, adding that security agencies are tightening oversight to block the loophole.
Beyond financial networks, Laka disclosed that terrorist groups have increasingly exploited social media platforms to recruit, communicate, and glorify criminal activities, prompting direct engagement between Nigerian authorities and global tech companies.
“We have taken down many terrorist social media accounts,” he said. “We hold meetings with TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat. There was a time bandits openly displayed their loot on TikTok through live streams. You don’t see that anymore because we shut them down.”
He noted that terrorists often register accounts using aliases, exploiting weak verification systems, but assured that Nigerian authorities are constantly adapting to evolving tactics.
“Terrorism is evolving. Every time they change tactics, we respond. We will not relent,” he said.
Looking ahead, Laka said the President has directed security agencies to significantly escalate counterterrorism operations in 2026, with the NCTC positioning itself as a regional centre of excellence to address cross-border threats in West Africa.
“Terrorism knows no borders,” he said. “We are not only looking at Nigeria but the entire sub-region. In 2026, we are going to up our game.”
He added that the Center has deployed whole-of-society approach, warning that insecurity cannot be defeated without community cooperation.
“These people are within us, communities know who is involved. Security agencies cannot act if information is withheld. We must decide what kind of society we want and work together to achieve it,” Laka said.
By PRNigeria
