According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), an alarming 614,937 Nigerians were reportedly murdered under unspecified circumstances and 2,235,954 others kidnapped across the country between May 2023 and April 2024. In this NBS report titled ‘The Crime Experienced and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024′, and based on the surveys conducted between May 2023 and […]
2 months ago
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), an alarming 614,937 Nigerians were reportedly murdered under unspecified circumstances and 2,235,954 others kidnapped across the country between May 2023 and April 2024. In this NBS report titled ‘The Crime Experienced and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024′, and based on the surveys conducted between May 2023 and April 2024, this report disclosed that 2.2 million Nigerians were kidnapped across the country while N2.2 trillion was paid as ransom, an average amount of N2.7 million per incident. Additionally, the report disclosed that the murder rate was highest in rural areas with 335,827 incidents and 279,110 in urban areas. Quite instructive, a zone-by-zone analysis of the report showed that the North West had the highest murder cases (206,030), followed by the North East (188,992); while the least was recorded in the South West (15,693).
These statistics appear as just harmless numbers but watching Ifeanyi Barbara Chidi’s PLS RT, a short film, one is aware that these rounded figures are the number of Nigerians who have been kidnapped and killed within that timeline. These nameless Nigerians, their families and loved ones lived with the trauma of being kidnapped. And, the 28-minute-long short film written and directed by Chidi centers its narrative on the story of one of the fictional victims: Kasope Briggs (Folu Storms) who has been kidnapped after a night party in Lagos. Cramped into a wooden crate, Kasope upon getting aware of her situation tries calling her father for help. When this proves abortive, she tries unsuccessfully to share an sos tweet updating the world about her situation. Minutes into the film, Storms’ performance carries the mental and psychological state of a kidnapped victim. The uncertainty of her situation, absence of who to talk to and the constant fear for her safety and life makes for a gripping performance.
Almost daily, news about a missing Nigerian circulates X. As one of the social media platforms for fire-rapid engagement, friends and relatives of kidnapped and missing victims, take to X to announce their misfortune. These tweets, often identifiable by the picture, age and name of the missing and kidnapped persons populate X. And, Nigerians, in their numbers, circulate this announcement. But, often, it’s impossible to see nor understand the emotional turmoil the family of the kidnapped victim goes through. And, in Chidi’s PLS RT, it’s the kidnapped victim’s perspective that has been spotlighted. Watching Kasope move from confusion, to shock, to faux confidence and resignation to faith within the lifespan of the film is the closest viewers of the film will be to understanding the psychology of a kidnapped victim.
Nigerian cinema is an archive of Nigerian political, social, economical and security history. Nigerian filmmakers, consciously and unconsciously, document these issues through the characters they create and the conflicts and situations they have to contend with. In PLS RT, what Chidi’s film is contending with is the absence of a strong security system in Nigeria and the worsening economic conditions of the general populace. Nigerian films like Jade Osiberu‘s The Trade, Niyi Akinmolayan‘s The Set Up 2 and Editi Effiong’s Black Book have, in varying approach and tone, looked into the complexities of kidnapping and the situation that ensures its existence in Nigeria. Poverty, absence of a connected and funded security system and Nigerians’ desperation are recurring factors that ensure the survival of the kidnapping ring. And though Chidi’s PLS RT doesn’t contend with either of these layered issues that birthed the kidnapping industry, it indirectly pushes viewers to think and reflect about it.
In the early 2000s, political kidnapping bloomed due to the activities of the Niger Delta agitators who kidnapped expatriates as a protest-incline move. This kidnap was a political tactic to compel multinational oil companies from stopping their activities in the oil-rich region and carry out community development projects. In 2009, coordinated kidnappings carried out by the jihadist terror group Boko Haram in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest commenced. Unmindful of the group’s motive, the victims of these kidnappings are often the average Nigerian families struggling to survive the harsh Nigerian climate. These average Nigerians, as statistics will reveal, have been victims of commercial kidnapping. From 2011 till now, a staggering number of Nigerians have been kidnaped and others killed with their organs cut off.
Chidi’s film reminds us of the humans behind these statistics. These circulated missing person pictures and fliers belong to actual Nigerians with dreams and a future worth pursuing. It’s easier to be disillusioned and inundated with the overwhelming number of Nigerians that get kidnapped on a daily basis, but the film, beyond documenting this traumatic reality, is showing viewers that kidnapping victims, like Kasope, have families expecting their calls, worried and panicking about their whereabouts. But, more importantly, the film is subtly encouraging the Nigerian government to create a sustainable economic system and security network that will drastically reduce this criminal activity in Nigeria. The staggering statistics of missing, kidnapped and murdered Nigerians will keep surging if the Nigerian economic condition isn’t improved and crime effectively addressed by the Nigerian government.
