Nigeria’s status as West Africa’s largest and most prosperous economy has unintentionally made the country a magnet for kidnappers and terrorist financiers operating across the region, the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Adamu Laka, said.
Laka made the remarks on Tuesday in Abuja during an end-of-year media briefing, where he discussed emerging trends in terrorism, kidnapping, and cross-border criminal financing in Nigeria and the wider West African sub-region.
According to him, Nigeria’s ability to raise and pay large ransom sums has drawn criminal and extremist networks seeking funds to sustain their operations. He noted that the country stands out in the region for the scale of ransom payments often demanded and paid.
“Nigeria is the wealthiest country in West Africa. It is one of the few places where a ransom of ₦100 million can be demanded and actually paid. That is why criminal groups come here to generate funds for their activities,” Laka said.
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He explained that kidnapping in Nigeria has grown from a domestic crime into a transnational enterprise, with ransom payments now forming a major source of financing for terrorist and bandit groups both within the country and beyond its borders.
Laka added that funds obtained from abductions are frequently channelled into the purchase of weapons, logistics, recruitment, and the expansion of violent networks, further deepening insecurity across the region.
Despite the magnitude of the threat, he said Nigerian security agencies have improved their capacity to disrupt terrorist financing, particularly by monitoring ransom flows and recovering payments.
“We track ransom payments, recover funds, and make arrests. While these matters are sensitive and details cannot be fully disclosed, many arrests and prosecutions have been carried out based on ransom-related investigations,” he said.
Laka also attributed Nigeria’s recent removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List to sustained efforts to curb terrorist financing, noting that investigations and prosecutions linked to ransom payments were crucial in meeting global compliance standards.
