PROLIFERATION OF KIDNAPPERS IN NIGERIA AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CHURCH

The incidence of kidnapping in Nigeria has become a frequent nightmare. The society, at large, is becoming so dreadful, and gripped by the pervasive fear of who may become the next victim of kidnapping. Individuals are not safe as there are cases of people being kidnapped right in their abodes both in the day-time and at nights. The streets and highways are not left out of daily occurrences as there are records of innocent victims who were kidnapped on their way from places of work. This work examined kidnapping and its impact on churches in Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State. The population of the study comprised all Christians in Emure Ekiti, Ekiti State. The research adopted purposive sampling techniques to select 100 respondents from ten (10) Churches in Emure Ekiti. Findings shows that the crave for money, wickedness, lack of swift prosecution of kidnappers, lack of profitable employment, deliberate attempt to frustrate the government of the day, security lapse and poor parental upbringing are some of the factors responsible for kidnapping in Emure, Ekiti State. That kidnapping has some impact on churches in Emure Ekiti. These impacts include but not limited to: that some people no longer attend church due to the fear of being kidnapped. That kidnapping has sowed fear into the hearts of most members of the church, while the incident of kidnapping has reduced church attendance significantly. The church equally spend more funds in getting external security, while most churches do no longer engage in night vigil due to the fear of kidnappers. That there are some ways to curb kidnapping. Thus, the introduction of state police, swift prosecution of kidnappers, promotion of societal values and provision of employment for the teaming unemployed youths are some of the ways to curb kidnapping in Emure Eikiti. The research made the following recommendations: The government should provide adequate security around the entire federation. That there should be swift prosecution of arrested kidnappers. That there should be creation of mass employment to the teaming unemployed youths. There should be creation of state police. There should be full operation of cashless policy where all transactions are monitored. Nigerian security personnel should be well equipped to curb kidnapping in Nigeria.