By Sanity Multi-Efforts Forum (SMEF) – Sanity Convener, Sensitization, Compliance & Strategy Services.
The recurring reports of Nigerians being kidnapped and held hostage on their own soil are a national emergency that demands more than routine condemnation. It demands visible, coordinated, and accountable action from the institutions charged with protecting lives and property.
At Sanity Multi-Efforts Forum, our mandate is to advance order, legality, accountability, and citizen protection in Nigeria’s transport, governance, and public service sectors. We have documented and engaged on issues of unlawful roadblocks, extortion, and harassment for years.
What we are witnessing now goes beyond harassment. It is an assault on the basic social contract between the state and its people: that in exchange for obedience to law, the state guarantees security.
The question being asked by citizens across the country is not an attack on any individual or institution. It is a demand for the system to function as designed. When citizens are abducted in their communities and on highways, the appropriate response is immediate mobilization of intelligence, operational resources, and inter-agency coordination to rescue them and bring perpetrators to justice. Anything less erodes public trust and emboldens criminality.
Our Position:
1. Accountability Must Be Operational, Not Rhetorical
The Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, and field commanders must be seen to lead from the front in crisis response. This means real-time situational command, public updates on rescue efforts, and clear timelines for action. Silence and business-as-usual communication deepen public frustration.
2. Citizen Protection Must Be Central to Security Strategy
Security operations must prioritize the safe recovery of abducted citizens. This requires prioritized funding, equipment, and intelligence for hostage rescue units, and better integration between military, police, DSS, and local intelligence networks.
3. Legal and Transparent Processes Matter
SMEF operates strictly within the law, and we urge all state actors to do the same. Emergency response must respect human rights, avoid reprisals against innocent communities, and be subject to oversight. Lawlessness cannot be fought with lawlessness.
4. Collaboration with Citizens and Civil Society
Citizens are the first line of intelligence. There must be safe, accessible, and responsive channels for reporting incidents without fear of harassment or retaliation. SMEF is ready to support sensitization and lawful collaboration between communities and security agencies.
Our Commitment
SMEF will continue to document incidents, engage relevant authorities, and produce evidence-based reports to support action. We will also sustain public sensitization on citizen rights, compliance, and reporting mechanisms.
Nigeria cannot normalize a situation where kidnapping becomes an accepted risk of daily life. The shame is not in admitting the problem; the shame is in failing to respond to it with the urgency it deserves.
We call on the Presidency, the National Security Council, and the National Assembly to treat the rescue of kidnapped Nigerians as a standing national emergency, with measurable outcomes and public accountability.
Sanity Multi-Efforts Forum is a CAC-registered non-profit focused on order, legality, and citizen protection in transport, governance, and public service.
