Sixteen child hostages freed

Sixteen children who were kidnapped in Nigeria earlier this week have been freed. Police say no ransom was paid, and none of them were hurt. It's believed they were released in a joint police and military operation.

Police say some of the kidnappers were killed, and the rest are being pursued.

The hijacking occurred on Monday on the outskirts of the city of Aba in Nigeria's oil-rich south. Police have said the gunmen ordered the bus driver to stop at gunpoint before taking the children who studied at Abayi International School.

The authorities have said all the children, believed to be between three and 10-years-old, were Nigerian. Kidnappers had demanded a 20 million naira (95,650 euros) ransom, and parents of some of the children on Thursday begged the abductors to release them, saying they could not afford to pay the amount.

The hijacking signalled a disturbing escalation in the spate of kidnappings that had already provoked fear in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, while also drawing widespread condemnation in Nigeria.

Just last week, doctors in Aba state had gone on strike over what they said was the kidnap and murder of one of their colleagues. Much of the city was shut down this week after the hijacking out of fears of further such attacks, and the military patrolled the streets on Thursday.

Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region has seen scores of kidnappings in recent years.

President Goodluck Jonathan, running in elections to be held early next year, called the hijacking "utterly callous and cruel" and pledged action to free the victims. The children's release comes as the country celebrated 50 years of independence.

RFI

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Nigeria at 50: What does Naija mean?

The word Naija aptly captures the variety of emotions I feel for my country, especially as it celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence.

We Nigerians are confident people - proud of our culture and identity, industrious, hard-working, ingenious and great survivors.

Let's face it, we need to be resilient - Nigeria can be extremely frustrating, annoying and inefficient.

But an optimistic outlook on life makes it a place where anything and everything is possible.

No wonder a survey once found that Nigerians are the happiest people in the world - we have a great capacity for laughing at ourselves.

Whether things are going well or whether it seems the world is about to come to an end, "Naija!" -also written 9ja - expresses it all.

It is about the food, the flamboyant dressing, the mannerisms, the boisterous - some say loud - interaction among complete strangers who on meeting immediately feel bonded by their "Naija-ness".

Like your family, you love them and you hate them at the same time.

You love them so much you would die for them, and yet you get so exasperated at the way they drive you up the wall.

And for the young, the word has entered their slang - spreading rapidly through social networking sites and through music.

My Nigerian colleague Peter Okwoche says this is because Naija denotes a new beginning or dawn for Nigeria.

"The word was coined by the country's youth as a way of distancing themselves from the old guard who they blame for Nigeria's woes," he says.

"Nigeria has a bad image abroad but the youth want the world to know that change is happening from inside the country."

And Naija is a word we Nigerians guard jealously.

We are most particular about how its pronunciation.

It must be punchy - both syllables should be emphasised but with a hook for the "Nai" and jab for the "ja".

Then you know you are in with the crowd. You are accepted. You are trusted.

BBC

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Proposed Death Penalty for Kidnappers

The House of Representatives has signalled its intention to introduce a bill to curb the menace of kidnapping and hostage taking in the country. The lawmakers expressed their support for capital punishment for anyone found guilty of the offences. They weighed in on the disturbing trend during a public hearing organized by the joint House Committee on the Judiciary, Justice, Human Rights and Police Affairs which held recently at the National Assembly.

Committee chairman Bala Na'Allah observed that unless stiffer penalties were meted out to perpetrators, prospective investors including expatriates would continue to be discouraged from investing in the country. Already, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Institute of Legal Arbitration and the Nigerian Legal Aid Council as well as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have all expressed support the introduction of the death penalty for these crimes. The committee is now expected to table its report for consideration and final passage as the House reconvenes from its recess. The severity of the problem was brought home two days ago when fifteen nursery and primary school children were abducted in Aba, Abia State.

The incidents of kidnapping and hostage taking started among militants in the Niger Delta as a form protest against unequal distribution of wealth. Today they have evolved into serious crimes and threaten social cohesion. Recently a medical doctor was murdered by his abductors even after his family had paid N30 million ransom money to his kidnappers. Currently, five members of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) serving in Rivers State are in the hands of their captors who have demanded N10 million for their release.

One of the cardinal purposes of law is to prevent the commission of crimes, while another is to stipulate stiff penalties to act as deterrence. The crime of abduction and kidnapping negatively portrays Nigeria as anarchic and lawless, not worth taking the risk to do legitimate business in. It is understandable therefore the urgent need to redeem the situation.

A law such as has been proposed would have received wholesome accolade except that the social indices to back it hardly warrant it. Unemployment is highest among the youths suspected of being the kidnap and hostage kingpins. Our preventive, investigative and trial systems are highly defective leading to constant cases of maladministration of justice and summary or extra-judicial executions.

The death penalty is an irreversible punishment, which is usually applied in cases of heinous crimes; it should be sparingly invoked. In view of the state of the Nigerian it is necessary to sound a note of caution given that even in more mature societies there are documented instances of miscarriages of justice after a thorough judicial process. Although such miscarriage of justice leads to the payment of amends, no monetary restitution can compensate for a life taken even in the course of carrying out a judicial sentence.

A proper alignment of social indices should precede any addition to the list of crimes meriting the application of the death penalty. This is imperative especially in the light of emerging facts indicating that even in states with such penalties it has hardly serve as deterrence. A case in point is that of armed robbery which attracts a similar penalty. The crime has failed to abate and there have been confessions in which criminals wilfully killed others fully conscious of the penalty for their crimes. The first step in addressing the problem is to take measures to redress the imbalance created by unemployment. This should be followed with equipping the security forces with the tools necessary to prevent the commission of crimes and the possible miscarriage of justice. These would go a long way in curbing not just kidnapping and hostage taking but many other crimes in our society.

Daily Trust

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