NIGERIA'S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY AND THE ROLE OF SECURITY AGENCIES IN COMBATTING KIDNAPPING IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITIORY ABUJA FROM 2021-2025

This article examined the escalating threat of kidnapping within Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from 2021 to 2025. The objective is to critically evaluate the extent to which the 2019 National Security Strategy (NSS) has been effectively operationalized by relevant security agencies in addressing kidnapping. Mixed research methods, and the Routine Activity Theory and Institutional Capacity Theory were applied. Both theories illuminate how the convergence of motivated offenders, unsuitable guardianship, and institutional weaknesses sustains the kidnapping economy in Nigeria’s capital. Drawing on an original incident-level dataset of 167 documented abduction events in the FCT spanning 2021 to 2025, qualitative expert testimony from a senior security intelligence practitioner, and a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical literature, the study found that kidnapping incidents increased dramatically over this period from 21 incidents and 62 victims in 2021 to a peak of 50 incidents and 247 victims in 2023 before a partial numerical decline in 2024 and early 2025 that nonetheless left total abductions at 718 across the study period, with 34 persons killed. The article concluded that the persistent of kidnapping reflects not a failure of policy design, but a profound implementation gap rooted in five interrelated structural pathologies: fragmented inter-agency coordination, inadequate community intelligence integration, equipment and technological deficits, prosecutorial inefficacy, and the siloed intelligence culture among security institutions. The article recommended for prioritization of the Multi-Agency Anti-Kidnap Fusion Cell (MAAKFC), enforcement of cashless financial policies to disrupt ransom economies, and the formulation of a standalone national anti-kidnapping policy framework.