By Olufunke Baruwa
In the 2008 Hollywood thriller, Taken, Liam Neeson played Bryan Mills, a retired CIA operative whose teenage daughter was abducted by traffickers while on vacation in Europe. The film became globally famous not only because of its suspense, but also because of one unforgettable scene. Speaking calmly but coldly over the phone to the kidnappers, Mills uttered words that have since entered popular culture:
“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want… But what I do have are a very particular set of skills… I will look for you; I will find you, and I will kill you.”
The line became iconic because it captured something primal: the refusal of a parent to accept helplessness in the face of violence. Today, across Nigeria, that same fear has become a lived reality for thousands of families. Only this time, there are no movie scripts, no guaranteed rescues, and no clean resolutions from those entrusted with protecting our children.
Countless Nigerian parents are now living through their own version of Taken. They are forced into impossible situations—selling property, borrowing heavily, or begging publicly to raise ransom money. Some never see their children again. Yet perhaps the most painful aspect is the growing public desensitisation. Kidnappings occur so frequently that headlines disappear within days, replaced by the next tragedy. This growing public desensitisation is perhaps the most painful aspect. Public outrage burns briefly before fading away.
But this should never become normal. A society that cannot protect its children stands on dangerous moral ground.
From Chibok to Today: A Pattern That Refuses to End
Across Nigeria, children are increasingly becoming targets of organised criminal networks, insurgents, traffickers and kidnappers. From schools to farms, highways to communities, childhood itself has become endangered.
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The recent abductions in Borno and Oyo states are the latest reminders of a national crisis that is steadily expanding. In Borno, communities already traumatised by years of insurgency continue to experience attacks involving the targeting of children. In Oyo, the kidnapping of children reinforced a painful truth: what was once perceived as a regional problem has become a national emergency.
Every incident deepens public anxiety. Parents now weigh risks before allowing children attend school, travel long distances, or even participate in routine activities. Beyond the headlines lie broken families, disrupted education, psychological trauma and communities living in constant fear. Decades of gains in child literacy are being slowly eroded.
But Nigeria has seen this tragedy before. The Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping remains one of the darkest moments in the country’s recent history. It should have transformed national security thinking permanently. Instead, similar incidents have continued across Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara and other states, exposing persistent weaknesses in school protection, intelligence coordination and rural security infrastructure.
Despite repeated promises of reform and safe school initiatives, many schools—especially in rural areas—remain dangerously exposed. Security presence is limited, response systems are weak, and prevention mechanisms remain inadequate.
Even more troubling is the sophistication of these criminal networks. Kidnapping has evolved into an organised and profitable enterprise. Like every criminal economy, it flourishes where risks are low and enforcement is weak.
The State Response Question: Where Is the Certainty?
The enduring power of Taken lies not in violence, but in certainty. Bryan Mills projected absolute determination. He pursued every lead and treated the abduction of his daughter as an emergency demanding relentless action.
That raises an uncomfortable question: Does the Nigerian state project the same certainty when children are abducted?
Too often, the response appears reactive rather than preventive. Security agencies mobilise after incidents occur, while intelligence gathering, surveillance and early warning systems remain underdeveloped. Coordination gaps persist between federal, state and local authorities.
Communities frequently feel abandoned during the critical early hours after abductions—precisely when swift action matters most. Criminal networks, meanwhile, understand timing. They exploit delays, weak surveillance and limited accountability.
The result is a dangerous imbalance: organised criminals operating with speed and coordination while response systems struggle with fragmentation and delay. Nigeria must move beyond rhetorical condemnation toward sustained structural action.
First, intelligence-led policing must become central to anti-kidnapping efforts. These criminal operations are rarely random. They depend on informants, logistics, communication systems and established routes. Breaking such networks requires coordinated intelligence, financial tracking and stronger inter-agency collaboration.
Second, schools must be fortified as protected spaces. Education cannot flourish under fear, and parents should never have to choose between literacy and survival. The repeated targeting of educational institutions demands a complete rethink of school security architecture, especially in rural and high-risk communities.
Third, technology must play a greater role in child protection. Many countries deploy rapid alert systems immediately when children go missing. Surveillance infrastructure, digital identification systems, forensic databases and integrated emergency response mechanisms significantly improve recovery efforts. Nigeria cannot continue relying primarily on manual processes while criminal networks become increasingly sophisticated.
Fourth, community engagement must be strengthened. Residents are often the first to notice suspicious activity. Building trust between communities and security agencies is essential for early detection and prevention.
Finally, the broader drivers of insecurity—poverty, unemployment and weak governance—must also be addressed. Kidnapping is not merely a criminal issue; it is tied to economic desperation, state fragility and the collapse of local authority structures in many areas. Young people without opportunities become vulnerable recruits for criminal enterprises.
None of these excuses criminality. But lasting solutions require confronting root causes alongside enforcement.
There is also an urgent need for psychological and social support systems for victims and their families. Children who return from captivity often carry invisible wounds—trauma, anxiety and emotional scars that can last a lifetime. Families too suffer severe psychological distress. Nigeria’s response framework must therefore include counselling, rehabilitation and reintegration support.
The media also has a responsibility. Coverage should sustain pressure for accountability without glorifying kidnappers or sensationalising violence. Society must resist becoming numb to the suffering of victims.
Religious leaders, traditional rulers and civil society organisations also have crucial roles to play. Child protection cannot remain solely a government conversation; it must become a national moral priority.
A Warning Nigeria Must Not Ignore
The famous speech from Taken remains memorable because it symbolises certainty in the face of evil. But Nigeria’s challenge today is not cinematic revenge—it is institutional responsibility.
Every abducted child represents more than a statistic. They represent interrupted futures, traumatised families and a society failing in one of its most basic obligations: protecting its youngest citizens.
The recent incidents in Borno and Oyo are not isolated events. They are warnings that insecurity is becoming deeper, more adaptive and more emboldened. They are warnings that criminality is expanding geographically and psychologically. They are warnings that public trust in safety and governance is steadily eroding.
Nigeria cannot afford resignation. Every abducted child should provoke national outrage. Every kidnapping should trigger coordinated emergency action. Every criminal network should know that the state will relentlessly pursue, dismantle and prosecute them.
A nation’s character is ultimately revealed in how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Children should represent hope, possibility and the future. When they become commodities for ransom, something fundamental has broken within the social contract.
The true measure of any country is whether its children can sleep safely at night, travel safely to school and dream safely about tomorrow.
At this moment, too many Nigerian children cannot.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
