Stopping Monetary Crimes Amid Mounting Insecurity: Why Following the Cash is Now a Survival Crucial

BY BLAISE UDUNZE

Nigeria at present faces a sobering twin actuality: a deepening safety disaster and an entrenched financial-crime ecosystem that quietly feeds, sustains, and normalises that disaster. Throughout the North, Center Belt, and elements of the South, kidnappers, bandits, rebel cells, political actors, compromised safety brokers, and a fancy chain of monetary facilitators function inside a shadow financial system of violence, one which generates billions, claims hundreds of lives, and steadily erodes the authority of the state.

For over a decade, safety consultants and Nigeria’s worldwide companions have warned that no significant progress might be made towards insecurity except the monetary oxygen sustaining violence is lower off. But the nation continues to prosecute its anti-terrorism efforts largely by means of army responses, as if the battle may very well be resolved solely on the battlefield. What stays lacking is a decisive, clear, and politically brave confrontation with the financial networks that make insecurity worthwhile.

This conflict just isn’t solely about weapons and bullets. It’s about cash.

Cash strikes fighters.

Cash buys weapons.

Cash fuels political desperation.

Cash underwrites chaos.

Till Nigeria addresses the monetary pipelines behind its insecurity, the disaster will proceed to breed itself.

Kidnapping: The Profitable ‘Battle Fund’ Sustaining Insurgency

The rise in mass kidnappings is neither unintended nor spontaneous. It has developed right into a rational, structured, revenue-generating enterprise.

Showing on Channels TV’s Politics At this time in October 2025, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed warned that rebel and bandit teams now deal with ransom funds as dependable “conflict funds.” The information help his declare.

A 2024 survey by the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS) discovered that Nigerians paid N2.2 trillion in ransom between Could 2023 and April 2024. This astonishing sum doesn’t account for unreported funds made by means of casual negotiators, cellular transfers, or unregulated group channels.

Kidnapping has matured into a completely fashioned financial system with well-defined roles: negotiators, informants, logistics suppliers, money couriers, and safety collaborators. Proceeds are reinvested in weapons, bikes, communication units, protected homes, and even land acquisitions.

Within the phrases of a safety analyst, “Each profitable kidnapping is a fundraiser.”

Sabotage from Inside: Keffi’s Explosive Memo and a System Constructed to Fail

If Nigeria’s exterior safety threats are troubling, the interior compromises are much more alarming.

A leaked memo by Main Basic Mohammed Ali Keffi accused senior authorities and army officers of diverting billions of naira earmarked for arms procurement underneath former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. Keffi’s allegations included:

–       Weapons paid for however by no means delivered

–       Falsified battlefield studies

–       Civilian casualties mislabelled to justify inflated expenditures

–       Political interference obstructing investigations into terror financing

His claims echoed the sooner warning by Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, who accused sections of the army of working in live performance with armed teams and abandoning susceptible communities.

Keffi’s memo grew to become much more consequential following the 2025 detention of former Lawyer Basic Abubakar Malami by the EFCC over allegations of cash laundering, terrorism financing and suspicious monetary exercise linked to 46 financial institution accounts.

Collectively, these revelations paint a disturbing image: at the same time as Nigerians endure mass abductions, components inside the political and safety elite seem like enabling or shielding the monetary networks behind the violence.

Why the Disaster Persists: A Monetary Crime Lens

Nigeria’s insecurity can’t be divorced from the atmosphere by which illicit finance thrives. Key enablers embrace:

1. Casual Economies and Unregulated Money Flows

With over 70 % of rural transactions nonetheless cash-based, terror teams exploit:

–       Hawala networks

–       POS and mobile-money brokers

–       Cattle markets and mining websites

–       Barter techniques centred on livestock and grains

These channels function past the attain of AML/CFT techniques.

2. Id Fraud and Weak KYC Enforcement

–       Legal networks routinely open accounts with:

–       Faux NINs

–       Compromised SIM playing cards

–       Recycled BVNs

–       Mule identities

3. Collusion inside Monetary Establishments

The EFCC estimates that as much as 70 % of monetary crimes contain financial institution personnel, primarily by means of:

–       Unauthorised money withdrawals

–       Suppressed Suspicious Transaction Experiences (STRs)

–       Manipulated inside alerts

4. Weak Prosecution and Political Interference

Instances drag on for years, and plenty of evaporate fully earlier than reaching court docket typically resulting from political concerns.

5. Ungoverned Areas

Giant territories throughout the North function hubs for:

–       Arms trafficking

–       Unlawful mining

–       Kidnap-for-ransom camps

–       Cross-border smuggling

Public Persistence Thins: NLC Strikes to the Streets

Public frustration is reaching a boiling level. On December 10, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) introduced a nationwide protest scheduled for December 17, citing the “degenerating safety state of affairs” and the rise in mass abductions.

The NLC condemned the November 17 abduction of feminine college students in Kebbi, noting that safety personnel had been withdrawn from the college shortly earlier than the assault. The union referred to as the act “dastardly and legal” and directed all associates and civil-society companions to completely mobilise for the protest.

This marks a big shift. For the primary time in years, Nigeria’s most influential labour physique is inserting insecurity on the centre of nationwide mobilization, additional underscoring the argument that the present disaster just isn’t merely a safety failure however a systemic breakdown of governance, accountability, and monetary integrity.

The Monetary Engine of Terror: The 23 Suspects Who Moved Billions

A Sahara Reporters investigation uncovered a community of 20 Nigerians and three overseas nationals allegedly linked to the financing of Boko Haram and ISWAP. Their transactions, working into lots of of billions, had been quietly channeled by means of private and company accounts.

Amongst these named:

–       Alhaji Saidu Ahmed, Zaria businessman: N4.8bn inflows

–       Usaini Adamu, Kano dealer with 111 accounts: N43bn inflows, N50bn outflows

–       Muhammad Sani Adam, foreign exchange and treasured stones vendor: N54bn throughout 41 accounts

–       Yusuf Ghazali, a foreign exchange dealer linked to UAE-convicted terrorists, operated 385 accounts

–       Ladan Ibrahim, a Sokoto official, is accused of diverting public funds

–       International actors included the late Tribert Ayabatwa (N67bn inflows) and Nigerien arms vendor Aboubacar Hima, who moved over $1.19 million.

Strikingly, a number of of the suspects arrested in 2021 had been quietly launched with out trial, persevering with a sample of impervious investigations and political bottlenecks.

This community confirms a painful fact: Nigeria’s insecurity just isn’t pushed solely by males wielding rifles within the bush. It’s sustained by people in cities, companies, and bureaucracies, folks with entry, affect, and noteworthy monetary mobility.

The Political Dimension: Irabor’s Revelation and the Unnamed Sponsors

The political undertone of Nigeria’s insecurity was bolstered by the previous Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Fortunate Irabor (rtd), who admitted that politicians had been amongst these financing terror teams. In response to him, some trials had been performed “away from public consumption.”

His assertion revived key questions:

–       Why is the state shielding the identities of terror sponsors?

–       Who advantages from the secrecy?

–       What political penalties are being prevented?

Safety sources informed TruthNigeria that Nigeria’s revealed record of 19 terror financiers in 2024 represented solely a fraction of the total community.

Baba-Ahmed’s accusation that former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai was a part of the political forces that aggravated Northern insecurity, an accusation the previous governor has beforehand denied, provides additional urgency to calls for for transparency.

The Human Value: Increasing Killing Fields

Regardless of repeated assurances, violence continues to unfold:

–       303 college students and 12 lecturers kidnapped in Niger State

–       38 worshippers kidnapped in Kwara

–       Simultaneous raids throughout Plateau, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger

–       Complete communities uprooted by weekly assaults

As Amnesty Worldwide noticed, “In lots of rural communities, solely the graveyards are increasing.”

SBM Intelligence now describes giant parts of the North as “open killing fields,” areas the place the state’s affect has collapsed, and group vigilantes have turn into the default safety suppliers.

Professional Voices: Why Nigeria Should Lastly Observe the Cash

Safety consultants converge on a single message: Nigeria can not defeat terrorism with out dismantling its monetary infrastructure. Dr. Friday Agbo, a safety researcher, disclosed, “Terror teams survive as a result of their monetary lifelines stay untouched.”

Jonathan Asake, analyst and former SOKAPU president, mentioned, “Publish the total Dubai record. With out transparency, impunity will stay the norm.”

Gen. Irabor (rtd.) revealed, “There are politicians concerned. The battle is multi-layered: ideology, criminality, and political manipulation.”

These assessments underscore one actuality: ideology is secondary. Cash is main. It’s the oxygen of Nigeria’s terror panorama.

What Should Change

Nigeria should elevate monetary crime to the extent of a national-security emergency. Key reforms embrace:

–       Integrating BVN-NIN-SIM identification databases and upgrading real-time monitoring

–       Focusing on illicit markets: unlawful mining hubs, cattle markets, unregulated border posts

–       Deploying AI-driven analytics to detect layered transactions, mule networks, and ransom flows

–       Strengthening financial institution compliance models and defending whistleblowers

–       Bettering inter-agency intelligence sharing (EFCC, NFIU, DSS, NDLEA, Police, CBN)

–       Criminalising unexplained wealth, particularly in battle zones

–       Investing in safe-school infrastructure, rural policing, and native reporting channels

Selecting Reality Over Comfort

Nigeria’s two-front conflict is neither mysterious nor new. It’s a well-documented, financially engineered disaster protected by silence, vested pursuits, and institutional decay. The NLC’s mobilisation indicators a turning level; residents are unwilling to just accept official evasions whereas insecurity intensifies. To finish this disaster, Nigeria should:

–       Expose and prosecute terror financiers

–       Purge corrupt insiders within the safety system

–       Dismantle ransom economies

–       Strengthen monetary intelligence

–       Finish political safety for legal networks

Till these reforms are pursued with integrity, billions will proceed to maneuver, weapons will proceed to circulate, and Nigeria will proceed to bleed.

Blaise, a journalist and PR skilled, writes from Lagos, will be reached by way of: blaise.udunze@gmail.com