The good thing which has come out of the latest case of kidnapping is that it has been brought

home loud and clear that this could happen to anyone. If the media had placed earlier reports of kidnapping on the inside pages, this latest incident made the headlines in all the newspapers. It became the talk of the town and everybody had an opinion. Prior to now, kidnappings and hostage taking were seen as something that befell politicians, expatriates and those who lived in the Niger Delta region and South East. We are now wiser! The latest case shows that it could happen to anyone at anytime. Now just about any one could fall victim. School runs, official assignments or plain market trips may end up becoming a nightmare. This also tells us that no one is safe. That is nothing more than an indictment on the security agencies and indeed the entire leadership of the nation. It exposes the ineptitude that has bedevilled governance in Nigeria. How did it all come to this? This is the question many of us are asking. Nigeria is now being held to ransom by an activity which it appears no one knows how to respond to. The security agents appear just as baffled as the rest of us. Kidnapping and hostage-taking look set to become the latest of the woes that have befallen our nation. We as a nation have been held captive by various challenges which are beginning to appear as if they are getting the better of us. Should we resign ourselves to this or should we fight back? Foremost is the fact that bad and unpatriotic leadership has plagued us for a long time and has sent us reeling into the arms of a host of other problems. Such are the state of the issues that have held us in bondage that even the outside world relates to us by linking us with corruption, inefficiency, unemployment, poverty, maternal mortality and a whole host of other miseries. In addition to these we now have another round of nagging headaches. Are our leaders sufficiently bothered by this trend or prefer to turn a blind eye and pretend all is on course? Are they bothered by the various woes /root causes that have spurred this activity and to want to tackle it beyond the superficial? President Jonathan has pledged to make Nigeria attractive for foreign investment. Your Excellency, first things first! Security for lives and property need to top your agenda. This latest headache has exposed the deep flaws within our security agencies. It ca not be pushed down the development agenda. The truth also is that our youths are very angry and they are on the prowl to vent their fury on the rest of society. They are seeking ways to draw attention to their plight and in doing so are punishing the rest of the nation by inflicting an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. They are lashing out and taking their fellow country men and women hostages as a way of unleashing their frustration and anger.

There has been no word about how to tackle one of the root causes of this nagging headache unemployment. Our youths have no where to go. Check out any major city and town and see the army of unemployed. They sit idly watching and waiting; lurking in corners looking for whom to pounce on. Granted that there is a global recession in which so many have lost jobs and the ranks of the unemployed have swelled to immense proportions. Many of the rich societies have social schemes that cushion the effects of unemployment on households until they get on their feet. Unfortunately nations like ours can not sustain such a safety net for its citizens. The erratic power supply is also another nagging headache which has held the nation hostage for so many years. We have been promised repeatedly of improvements but to date there has been no relief. Today we are known as the generator nation. This failure in turn has affected our manufacturing base. Numerous factories have shut down with hundreds thrown out of work. The nation has been held captive by these fixable challenges and now some of its citizens are biting back and unleashing their vengefulness on us all. They are venting their rage on those they deem to be connected one way or another with their predicament. When the spouse of a leading corporate figure was kidnapped in her community in the East, there was a lot of fear for her life. This unfortunate incident occurred a day after she had gone to the village to attend an event in a white Rolls Royce car. The perpetrators must have been salivating from the sight of the ostentatious display and could not allow such a catch to get way; surreptitiously planned her abduction and ransom demand within the twinkle of an eye. The have-nots having been left to operate on the fringes of society take out their rage on the haves! There is no reason for Nigeria to remain a nation, bound and gagged with so much despair. We should challenge our leaders to fix our electricity supply, hospitals, and public schools and tertiary institutions, engage our youths usefully, make the nation more safe and secure etc. We are told repeatedly that we are richly blessed with so much human and natural resources. Yet we remain in the doldrums. We as a nation need to rise and reject this burden and instead of snatching people and lives, snatch our destiny for greatness into our own hands. This can however only be realised when we choose the right kind of leaders. Why is there so much difficulty in doing this? Are we not sick and tired of more of the same? We do not need a crystal ball to tell us what lies ahead. Already the political class are gearing up to unleash more social mayhem on us through all the wheeling and dealing that is reportedly going on. The root causes of our dilemma can not be tackled successful until we are all prepared to fix certain things. This requires a strong leadership at all levels. All classes of leaders should rise to stem this ugliness that is threatening to swamp us. Religious leaders, community leaders, traditional monarchs, educationists,

professional etc should all get involved. We should all collectively resist poor and short-sighted leadership. If we do no get it right politically then economically and socially we will continue to be failures and hostages to a litany of socio-economic woes. Undoubtedly we need to build a sustainable industrial and manufacturing base that will spur employment and job creation. Now that the journalists have been released into the arms of their families, they should not stay silent and slip back into their private lives. They must take this incident as a call to duty. They should not allow the issue of kidnappings, hostage taking and poor security to fade away until the next incident. Rather they should regard it as their patriotic and professional duty and begin to champion issues that will challenge the government and security agents to live up to their responsibilities and mandates. Media-led investigations will keep the government on its toes. Weve seen this happened else where. It requires courage and bravery. In Italy it has taken the combined efforts of a committed media, security agents to root out the king pins of the mafia and reduce their menace in society.