The announcement came as activists commemorated the 10th anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria’s northern state of Borno.

President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria has declared that the country will no longer pay ransom to armed gangs that have plagued the West African nation with kidnapping and extortion,

The announcement, made in an opinion piece published Monday, came as activists commemorated the 10th anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria’s northern state of Borno.

In the Newsweek magazine piece, titled “Ten Years Since Chibok – Nigeria Will No Longer Pay the Price,” Tinubu acknowledged that “legitimate concerns” over kidnappings persist and said his country must address the root causes of poverty, inequality, and a lack of opportunity if it hopes to eradicate the threat posed by criminal gangs.

The Nigerian leader said ransom payments to gangs only served to encourage gangs to commit more crimes and perpetuate the cycle of violence. “The extortion racket must be squeezed out of existence,” he said.

Tinubu said that instead of giving in to ransom, perpetrators of the violence will face the full force of the security services. He cited the recent successful rescue of 137 school students kidnapped in Kaduna state, where no ransom was paid despite the kidnappers’ demand of $600,000 in ransom.

While some experts agree that ransom payments only fuel criminal activities, others argue that Nigeria’s security apparatus is not yet equipped to handle such situations effectively.

Ndu Nwokolo, managing partner at Nextier, a public advisory firm with a focus on security and economic issues, agreed that ransom payment emboldens perpetrators, but said Nigeria is not ready to take such a stance.

“The Nigerian state is obviously very weak to do those things it says it wants to do. If you’re someone, you have your [relative] kidnapped and you know that the state security agents can’t do anything,” Nwokolo said.

“How come you were able to retrieve those numbers of kids without shooting a gun, and we know that those guys demanded ransom? The entire thing shows that there's no honesty, there’s no transparency.”

The lack of accountability from authorities has been a major concern, with security analyst Senator Iroegbu also calling for preventive measures to be put in place to curb kidnappings.

Tinubu said the government’s response to the Chibok abduction in 2014 was slow and emphasised the evolving nature of the security threat in Nigeria. He noted that criminal gangs behind more recent kidnappings are primarily after cash rewards, unlike Boko Haram, which sought to impose Islamist rule.

In the article, he also talked about his economic reforms and said they were aimed at saving public finances and attracting foreign investment. Despite facing criticism for scrapping fuel subsidies and floating the naira, Tinubu defended these decisions as necessary steps to revive the economy and reduce poverty levels.

Ultimately, Tinubu said Nigeria must address the underlying triggers of insecurity, including poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunity. He concluded his article by saying that “there will be no more ransoms paid to kidnappers nor towards policies which have trapped our people economically.”