The Federation of Catholic Medical and Dental Students (FECAMDS) said in a statement that the 20 students from the University of Jos (UNIJOS) and the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) in northern Nigeria were travelling to the southern city of Enugu to attend the annual FECAMDS convention when armed men at Oyukpo in Benue State akibdnapped them.

The conference of Bishops has described this as a kidnap epidemic in the country. 

“Barely about a day or so after the one that happened with the 20 Catholic students, another set of about nine students were also taken from a university campus in a state,” said correspondent and Reporter in Nigeria, Jonathan James.

“The coincidence is too good to be true as this development is from five days ago and as far as the police are concerned, in less than two hours, colleagues of the kidnapped students lost contact with them,” he said.

Nigeria has been faced with a surge of kidnapping as economic hardship pushes more citizens into crime. In addition, the multiplication of terrorist and militant organizations means financing is a problem, and kidnapping for ransom has become a major source of income. According to the statement, the kidnappers of the 20 Catholic medical students are reportedly asking for a ransom of nearly $32,000.

“Given the volume of kidnapping, the least that the government can do is being concerned and being caring about the citizens rather than making laws that tends to blame the citizens,” said James.

--Channel Africa--