Nigeria ranks 4th in the World for Hostage taking

victims of kidnaping

The spate of hostage taking in Nigeria has shot the country into the number four position in global ranking, according to the American Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Although the Bureau did not disclose the three countries ahead of Nigeria in the ranking, it explained that the cases of hostage taking across the world have been under-reported.


Hostage taking in Nigeria assumed a frightening dimension in the wake of the militancy in the Niger Delta, leading to incessant kidnapping of expatriates working with oil firms and affluent Nigerians or their relations.

Commercial hostage takers kidnapping people later emerged and the scourge spread to the south-east.

An FBI agent, Ms Jennifer Dent, who disclosed the ranking of Nigeria as number four in the world in hostage taking in Lagos, also identified Nigeria as the greatest threat to cyber security in Africa.