Nigeria’s newly screened Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.), has drawn a firm line against ransom payments in the country’s fight against terrorism and kidnapping, insisting that paying criminals only fuels further violence and insecurity.
Speaking on Wednesday during his Senate screening in Abuja, Musa declared that the Federal Government would no longer tolerate negotiations with terrorists or ransom payments to kidnappers, warning that such funds directly finance weapons, logistics and future attacks. “Each time ransom is paid, you are buying the terrorists bullets and purchasing time for them to regroup and strike again,” he told senators. “Once you commit a crime, it should be easy to track and trace you.”
The minister advocated the urgent creation of a unified national digital database linking the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), banks, immigration and security agencies to monitor financial transactions and movements of suspects in real time. He disclosed that Nigerian banks already possess the technology to trace ransom flows, but inter-agency data silos continue to weaken enforcement.
Musa described the nation as being under pressure from multiple security threats—banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and piracy—adding that military operations alone account for only about 25 to 30 per cent of security success. According to him, poverty, unemployment, weak governance at the local level and prolonged court processes contribute significantly to insecurity. “Security agencies risk their lives to arrest suspects, only for trials to linger endlessly,” he said, calling for special terrorism courts with 90-day trial limits and no bail for capital offences.
He also raised concern over a resurgence of maritime crime along the Akwa Ibom–Cameroon axis, including piracy, sea robbery and coastal kidnappings, and announced an expansion of Operation Delta Safe to combat the threat. Illegal mining, he noted, remains a major funding source for armed groups and should be decisively banned nationwide, with forest enclaves cleared by the military.
On recruitment, Musa disclosed that over 70,000 Nigerians apply annually to join the armed forces, but many shy away from frontline deployment. He said a unified digital database would improve recruitment integrity and weed out fraudulent applicants.
His appearance before the Senate came as both chambers of the National Assembly intensified legislative action on insecurity. The House of Representatives, following a three-day special security debate concluded on December 3, adopted sweeping resolutions aimed at repositioning the nation’s security architecture. Among them was the placement of all security funding on first-line charge for immediate release.
The House also called for the expansion of cashless payment systems to rural areas with digital monitoring to disrupt terror financing, the establishment of a Joint Intelligence Fusion Centre, drone surveillance of borders, deployment of artificial intelligence for threat analysis, and the creation of a national weapons registry with routine audits. Lawmakers further endorsed constitutional amendments for state police, scrapping of the military “super-camp” strategy in favour of forward operating bases, and drastic reduction of VIP security details in line with President Bola Tinubu’s directive.
The Green Chamber commended the President for approving the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers, converting NYSC orientation camps into police training centres, and postponing his participation at the G20 summit to personally coordinate responses to recent kidnapping incidents. It also demanded open and transparent trials for terrorism cases, public disclosure of terror financiers, and the establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
In the Senate, lawmakers moved further by advancing a bill seeking to impose the death penalty on convicted kidnappers and their sponsors. The proposed amendments to the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, sponsored by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, seek to reclassify kidnapping as an act of terrorism and prescribe capital punishment for perpetrators, financiers, informants and enablers, with no option of fine.
“Kidnapping has instilled widespread fear, bankrupted families and claimed countless lives,” Bamidele said, noting that victims are abducted from highways, schools, farms and private homes. Former Edo State Governor and Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, rejected any form of deradicalisation for kidnappers, insisting that “if convicted, the penalty should be death.” Senator Orji Uzor Kalu also demanded capital punishment for informants, citing the trauma of raped minors and families left destitute.
The bill passed second reading and has been referred to the Committees on Judiciary, National Security and Interior for consideration and report within two weeks.
Human rights lawyers, however, expressed mixed reactions to the lawmakers’ call for open terrorism trials. Evans Ufeli warned that fully open proceedings could expose witnesses to danger unless protective measures such as voice distortion and masked testimonies are adopted. Deji Adeyanju criticised the political leadership for what he described as selective outrage, accusing some officials of leniency toward terrorists while suppressing civil dissent. Conversely, Inibehe Effiong supported public trials, arguing that victims deserve justice in the open and that terror suspects should not be shielded from scrutiny.