In a stark reminder of the human cost of the Sahel’s security crisis, armed groups have abducted at least 50 people in Nigeria’s north-west, with horrifying reports that toddlers are among those taken. The kidnappings, which occurred in Zamfara state, come as the UK announces a fresh injection of counter-terror funding for the region. But for families waiting in displacement camps, the news of increased security spending feels distant.
“They took my nephew. He is only three,” one woman told local journalists, her voice breaking. The attackers, believed to be part of criminal gangs often conflated with jihadists, stormed villages in the dead of night.
This is not a new phenomenon. For years, north-west Nigeria has been plagued by mass abductions for ransom, targeting schools, weddings and now even the most vulnerable. The British government’s pledge of £5m for intelligence-sharing and training is part of a wider effort to stabilise the Sahel, but critics argue that without addressing the root causes of poverty and weak governance, such funds are like pouring water into a sieve.
Indeed, the cultural shift here is one of normalised terror: communities now build their days around the risk of attack. Children are kept indoors, markets are held in haste, and every rustle of the wind is a potential warning. The social psychology of this fear is corrosive.
It creates an economy of survival, where ransoms are paid by selling land and livestock, deepening the cycle of poverty. Meanwhile, the UK’s security focus remains on the jihadist threat in the Sahel, but gangs kidnapping toddlers for cash blur the lines. As one local analyst put it: “When the state is absent, predators fill the void.
” For the families of the 50, the only question that matters is: will they come home?
