Reporting News and opinions
King Leopold II of Belgium laid claim to the Congo and declared it his territory while exerting physical threats to the indigenous people of the Congo (Kongo). He declared the people and the land to be his property, and he quickly turned the country into a moneymaking venture for himself and his throne.
In the fearful months and years following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, Western democracies faced an unenviable dilemma. Their citizens demanded protection from an enemy that recognised no borders, wore no uniforms and deliberately targeted civilians.
In Nigeria, the legal framework explicitly criminalizes the payment of ransoms to kidnappers or terrorists.
Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed: "Last year, my nephew was kidnapped. That's my late sister's son, along with three other people. They went to a farm they had hired... and they were kidnapped just a few miles between Kaduna on the way to Kachia.
In most functional societies, those quaint places where governments occasionally remember they exist to serve rather than to frustrate, when a citizen submits an application requiring official action, a few basic courtesies are observed. An acknowledgment. A request for missing documents if needed. Perhaps even a timeline, however optimistic. The machinery of state, however rusty, at least coughs to confirm it has received your papers.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 