Nigeria's wave of kidnappings: Why the spike in attacks across the north?
Description
Why is Nigeria in the throes of a kidnapping epidemic? Sometimes depicted as terrorists, other times as bandits, attackers have targeted three schools inside of a week, leading some to compare the abductions with the 2014 Chibok attacks by the jihadists of Boko Haram. We do our comparison and revisit the same question as a decade ago – why would any human being abduct children; in some cases nursery school children?
It's an ordeal for the victims and their families, and bad timing for Africa's most populous nation, what with the Trump administration threatening military intervention over what it calls genocide against Christians. How does the government of Bola Tinubu handle the sudden pressure from the Evangelical right in Washington?
Watch moreWhat's behind Nigeria's mass kidnapping and security crisis?
More broadly, how to address insecurity in Nigeria, a nation where locals feel abandoned by the state and some instances feel they have to choose between mounting their own vigilante self-defence groups and striking deals to allow their attackers grazing rights for cattle and access to water?
The third option is fleeing for good from the impoverished north. But with what consequences?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
United States
