 Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa. It's time for a hot topic And we're talking about tinnable rose out of ransom payment for victims of school abduction Joining me to have a conversation is Augustine Ega is a security expert. Good morning sir. Thank you for joining us Okay, so we're talking about ransom payments a few days ago some about 200 School children were being abducted from their school and now the president has come out to make a statement saying there should be no Ransom payment, but before we get into that I want to talk about What do you think is a factor that has cost the rise because you're seeing this happen year in year out in fact? every other week someone is being abducted someone is being kidnapped and Some of them make it into the news, but we can only imagine the ones that don't so Obviously, there is a rise in this so I just want you to work me through some factors that has probably cost You know, there's a menace of a situation that we're facing in a country like this Yes, I Think it's something that we all know That the criminals will always attack the top target So adopting up to 300 students from a school shows that They know the vulnerability of those schools and that before security agencies will come They will have achieved their aim So I believe that all this while that from the chief of Esperanto now The government on this whole should have been proactive enough to be for security in some of these schools Not paying ransom by principle. It is right not to pay ransom But it also let For those who are involved in this did nothing. I mean the victims the families of the victim to decide what they want In a system where security is working everything is working I'm sure that the government will come to the aid of those who wouldn't within 24 for the eight hours for the kids in Nigeria in Which is why I Don't know So we're talking about 287 Pupils and now the the kidnappers have issued, you know a deadline of March 27 for a one-billion ransom to be paid Would you would you say that with people paying ransom over time? This has even become a factor whereby, you know, kidnappers think this is a lucrative business for them Because as long as I kidnap you, we don't have security agencies that can You know, just get these people out in 24 to 48 hours like you've said and so they just Take it and say yes We know that we're going to get the money regardless and that's the reason why we're seeing a rise of this at the moment Yes It has become a thriving business a thriving industry as we can see right from the Chibok issue to you today It shows that when it comes when the situation continues to reoccur It shows that there is no mitigation of that risk from the national level and so The industry is growing wider is spreading to the north is spreading to the south to the south side to the south It's everywhere. Nigeria. It's a traveling industry I thought that if you have figure out where you could keep your victims and you make demands and you know that that money will come But further government on their part. I Think if we have been we have been conversing on this Using technology Convergences security converges the security using technology and physical security So they know the weaknesses that in terms of technology our Our system is weak especially those are fight crimes they expect technology because Where they are? You can never identify where they are except by the use of technology So The Chibok experience I Would have expected the matter by now that we have developed a lot of countermeasures Against this kind of recurrence Okay, so I mean one thing that you said that I just took and was quite alarming to me was the industry is Growing wider. In fact, I had to write it down and that's that's quite sad because what does that say for Nigerians? You would expect that, you know, the lives and properties of Nigerians will be protected at all costs I mean, that's what the government should owe us, you know being safe in our country But now you're seeing the industry becoming wider, which is quite sad But I wanted to get your comment on this statement being made by the precedents Some people argue that it's quite insensitive What do you think about this? And if you were to rate our security agencies The law enforcement agencies that we have on the effectiveness and pro-activeness, how would you rate them? You cannot give what you don't have At the point at which they can achieve they can achieve But I can say are they equipped with the right technology to fight this kind of crime So if they are not equipped with technology They can really not do much but in terms of physical training I cannot show you that our law enforcement and our military, they are not able to physically But they need to back up with advanced technology to deal with this industry that is growing like a Wi-Fi My last is if the government doesn't want us to pay doesn't want, you know, the families of these victims to pay ransom Then what other alternatives do they have? Because if you're telling me that you know my a family member or a friend of mine has been abducted by kidnappers And you're telling me not to pay ransom You're pretty much asking me to not do anything and just leave them So if the kidnappers were going to kill them is as good as me saying my final goodbyes at this moment So what what do you think the government needs to do at this moment? To ensure that we're safe the alternative measures to just curb Kidnapping as a whole and ensure that you know, it's not a thriving industry for these people anymore I think there is no government that will admit that you should pay a ransom It's a mission of failure on their part to provide security and safety for the life and safety of Nigerians and all the citizens So no, no government will ever increase Approve that like I said in principle, it is a no-pay But from that's why I'm like I'm surprised By the time we should have Those units of course we have those counterterrorism units they have them but I just wonder what advanced training are they receiving or what equipment do they have but except they have equipment to fight this and they have the modern technology to fight this I think They If they are government is What if enough to defend them because why some people pay this ransom is that they don't have confidence in the government or the law enforcement and that is why they go their own way to negotiate and to pay But if the system is walking the way it is The response time is very quick I'm sure who would depend on them, but the rest of them is weak their response time is almost not there and so This is some of these who have kidnapped their children and they just want to do everything to get there To get their loved ones out of that situation because they don't they don't trust the government Well, I'd said this earlier in the show when I said I just hope that you know This school children and even other people who have been kidnapped would be able to Get back to their families safely And I hope that the government will have more proactive measures to ensure that this doesn't happen again Even though as I'm saying it right now I'm even scared for what will happen in the next few weeks and you know the headlines that we might be seeing in the papers But we're hoping that this menace will stop in Nigeria and Nigeria will become a safe country for everyone We want to say thank you for coming and just speaking to us. Thank you so much Augustin My pleasure. Thank you. All right Was speaking with Augustin Edgar. He's a security expert and we're talking about the precedent statement where he said There should be no ransom payment for the victims of school Abduction anyways, we're going to short break one return. We'll be looking at our next hot topic. Please stay with us