Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has raised serious concerns over a disturbing dimension of the country’s kidnapping crisis, revealing that some Nigerians now deliberately stage their own abductions in order to extort ransom from their families.
Ribadu disclosed this while addressing the nation’s worsening internal security challenges, noting that the kidnapping problem now goes beyond armed criminal gangs to include citizens who actively collaborate with kidnappers or fabricate abduction incidents for financial gain.
According to the NSA, security agencies have uncovered several cases in which alleged kidnapping victims were not forcefully abducted but were willing participants in the crime. He explained that some individuals connive with friends or acquaintances to simulate kidnapping scenarios aimed at deceiving unsuspecting relatives into paying ransom.
“We are talking about the population informing the kidnappers,” Ribadu said. “We are even having situations where people arrange with themselves to kidnap themselves in order to collect ransom from their families.”
He revealed that investigations by security operatives have confirmed multiple instances of such staged kidnappings, particularly involving young people who conspired with trusted friends to mislead their parents.
“I have seen situations where a boy arranged with his friends to kidnap him so that his father could pay the ransom,” Ribadu added.
The NSA further warned about the growing use of technology in these fake kidnapping schemes, noting that artificial intelligence tools are now being deployed to clone voices and generate distress calls that sound convincingly authentic to family members.
“There are AI tools where you can change your voice. You say you have been kidnapped, ask for ransom, you pay yourself, and then you reappear,” he said.
Ribadu cautioned that this trend is complicating national security efforts and undermining public trust, as families are increasingly unsure whether ransom demands are genuine or staged.
He also emphasized that community complicity remains a major obstacle in combating kidnapping across the country, pointing out that some residents provide information, logistics and safe havens that enable criminal operations.
The NSA called for a change in public attitude toward security, urging Nigerians to recognise it as a collective responsibility. He stressed the need for increased public enlightenment, vigilance and stronger cooperation with law enforcement agencies to curb both genuine and staged kidnappings.
“I think there is a need for us to resuscitate the population,” Ribadu said, appealing to citizens to stop aiding criminal activities that worsen insecurity nationwide.
