Security and intelligence expert, Dr Sani Aliyu, has suggested a controversial approach to tackling kidnapping and banditry in Nigeria, saying ransom payments could be turned into a trap for criminals.
Aliyu spoke on Friday, the 27th of February, 2026, during an interview on Trust TV, where he addressed the worsening insecurity across the country and mounting calls, including pressure from the United States, for Nigeria to curb violent crimes.
He argued that rather than dismiss ransom payments outright, authorities could deploy them as a tactical tool to trace and capture perpetrators once the money enters circulation.
“I wouldn’t mind if the government paid ransom to bandits and then tracked and rounded them up at the spending end.
“This is strategic. Use the Interpol and other channels to trace, communicate, and apprehend them at the point of spending.
“Such monies are spent without any arrest. The go scot-free. I think it’s very disturbing,” he said.
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Aliyu faulted the absence of arrests linked to ransom transactions, despite the involvement of formal banking systems and telecommunications networks in many cases. He questioned why security agencies have not made progress in identifying and prosecuting those who facilitate or benefit from such payments.
He also recalled claims by former President Goodluck Jonathan that insurgents had infiltrated the presidency during the height of the Boko Haram crisis.
According to him, the fact that private security deliberations sometimes found their way into the public domain pointed to internal compromise within government structures.