KEY POINTS
- Minister Musa calls for zero negotiation with terrorists.
- Lawmakers push death penalty for kidnappers and financiers.
- Unified national database seen as critical for security operations.
Defence Minister Gen. Christopher Musa said Nigeria must not negotiate with terrorists or pay ransoms, warning such actions empower criminals. He spoke during his Senate screening, emphasizing that past ransom payments only allowed attackers to regroup and plan new assaults.
Musa said the country’s banking system could trace ransom flows if fully integrated into a unified national database linking citizens’ identities, banking, and security records. He said that military operations were just 25–30 percent of counter-insurgency and that poverty, illiteracy, and bad governance were the main causes of crime.
He also warned about the rise in marine crime, illegal mining, and cultism, saying that operations like Delta Safe are now targeting areas that were formerly tranquil. The government plans to reduce routine checkpoints to free up troops for forest operations and protect farmlands, which play a crucial role in the country’s food security.
Lawmakers push tougher penalties and data integration
The House of Representatives called for open, transparent prosecution of terrorism cases, institutional reforms, and strengthened security funding. Some suggestions are specialized courts, e-banking surveillance to stop crime, more intelligence fusion centers, state police, and better benefits for security workers.
The Senate was also talking about changes to the 2022 Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act. They wanted to make abduction, hostage-taking, and other related acts terrorism, with death as the punishment for those who commit them, pay for them, or provide information about them. Senators like Orji Uzor Kalu and Adams Oshiomhole said that kidnapping has become a business and a military operation, which is hurting communities, schools, and farms.
Furthermore, Musa underscored the urgent need for a unified national database, warning fragmented records across immigration, quarantine, and other agencies leave gaps exploited by terrorists, kidnappers, and criminals. Integrating ICT into security operations, he said, would allow real-time tracing of ransom payments and criminal networks.
The legislative and also executive efforts signal Nigeria’s commitment to tougher anti-kidnapping measures, smarter security intelligence, and accountability for financing and facilitating terrorism.
