By Dr. Michael Omoruyi | iNewsAfrica | September 7, 2025
Kidnapping has mutated from a fringe criminal act into a sophisticated enterprise in Edo State, leaving grieving families, traumatised communities, and a paralyzed economy in its wake. The headlines have become numbingly familiar—commuters ambushed, expatriates abducted, children caught in crossfire, and even security personnel gunned down in broad daylight.
Yet amid the mounting bloodshed, one truth is inescapable: we cannot arrest or shoot our way out of this crisis. While law enforcement is essential, prevention-focused policy frameworks are the missing piece in Edo’s security puzzle. If policymakers are serious about safeguarding lives and restoring confidence, then urgent reforms must shift from reactionary firefights to proactive, long-term prevention.
Prevention Policy Framework
Building Community Intelligence Networks
Kidnapping thrives in the shadows of poor intelligence. A prevention-focused policy must invest in community-driven surveillance and early-warning systems. Every village, motor park, and transport hub can be transformed into nodes of intelligence gathering, feeding Nigerian Police and local squads with actionable information before crimes unfold.
Local vigilante groups, hunters, and even repentant cultists should be formally integrated into structured neighborhood watch programs—not left as disconnected actors vulnerable to mob justice or manipulation.
Economic Alternatives for At-Risk Youth
The overwhelming participation of young men in kidnapping gangs is not coincidental—it is structural. With unemployment and underemployment ravaging Edo’s youth, crime becomes an economic ladder. Prevention must mean deliberate investment in vocational training, digital literacy, and microenterprise funding targeted at rural communities where gangs recruit most aggressively.
A government that spends billions on ransom payments or security operations but fails to create dignified jobs is fighting symptoms while feeding the disease.
Special Fast-Track Courts for Kidnapping
One of the greatest enablers of crime is impunity. Kidnappers, when arrested, often languish in a broken judicial system that drags on for years, emboldening others to strike. Edo State can champion reform by establishing specialised fast-track courts dedicated to kidnapping and violent crimes.
Swift trials, transparent processes, and strict penalties will send a loud signal: kidnapping is no longer a low-risk, high-profit crime. Prevention is not just about stopping crime before it starts; it’s also about creating visible deterrence.
Technology as a Force Multiplier
Prevention policies must embrace 21st-century solutions. Drone surveillance over major highways, CCTV at motor parks, GPS tracking of commercial vehicles, and centralized digital hotlines for reporting suspicious activities can shrink the operational space of kidnappers.
Edo should pioneer a Smart Security Hub, pooling data from telecom companies, transport unions, and communities into one coordinated center for rapid preventive action.
Healing Communities, Not Militarising Them
Security without trust is brittle. Prevention means investing in confidence-building programs that repair the broken relationship between citizens and security operatives. Community dialogues, psychological support for victims, and civic education campaigns against mob justice are not luxuries—they are essentials.
The lynching of suspected kidnappers in Uromi earlier this year shows what happens when people lose faith in lawful processes: the mob becomes the judge, jury, and executioner. Prevention-focused policies must strengthen justice to stop communities from descending into lawlessness.
The Time to Act Is Now
Edo cannot afford to treat kidnapping as a seasonal problem or a statistic to manage. It is an existential threat eroding governance, investment, and the very fabric of communal life. A prevention-focused framework—anchored on community intelligence, economic empowerment, fast justice, smart technology, and trust-building—is the only sustainable path forward.
If we continue on the current reactive path, Edo risks normalising abductions as part of everyday life. But if we choose prevention, we can bend the trajectory of our future toward safety, dignity, and prosperity.
👉 The question is not whether Edo can afford prevention. The real question is: can Edo afford not to?
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