Boko Haram raising funds via banditry as foreign support shrink: Criminologist

Bandits (Credit: VOA)

An academic in the Department of Criminology, University of Ilorin, Dr Monsurat Isiaka, says incessant kidnapping will discourage foreign investment in Nigeria.

Speaking with reporters in Ilorin on Monday, Dr Isiaka expressed profound worries over increasing criminality in Nigeria.

She observed that incessant kidnappings in the country were geared towards raising funds for terrorists and dissidents whose means of external financing had been tightened by the federal government.

She also noted that there was a strong nexus between the increasing rate of kidnapping and the campaign against Boko Haram.

“Boko Haram has established a relationship with several criminals who are mostly uneducated, unskilled and hopeless to engage in banditry and abduction with a view to generating funds for the insurgency.

“Many are unconsciously working one way or the other for the dreaded Boko Haram,” she said.

She warned that the activities of terrorists and kidnappers could also increase the school dropout rate as parents and pupils would be scared of the environment.

“Terrorism and kidnapping indirectly discourage school enrolment, the cornerstone philosophy of the outlawed Boko Haram,” she said.

Dr Isiaka argued that kidnappers also targeted schools out of the conviction that ransom that would be paid by the government would be quite huge compared to what abducted individuals would pay.

She equally expressed the fear that growing criminality would damage Nigeria’s reputation in the global community and further affect its economy.

“The best way is to provide state-of-the-art equipment for the military and other security agencies to adequately combat the criminals,” she observed.

She advocated a thorough reappraisal of people recruited into the security services, stating that some of the security operatives were unpatriotic and criminally minded individuals who are betraying their oath of office for material gains.

Dr Isiaka also advised students to avoid large gatherings which could attract criminals to them.

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