Africa Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, Joe Parkinson has described kidnapping for ransom as “one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Nigerian economy”.
Parkinson stated this in a tweet on Friday while reacting to the abduction of 300 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State.
“It’s happened again…
“More than one hundred schoolgirls have been abducted from their boarding house in northern #Nigeria, say officials & parents.
“Kidnapping for ransom is now one of the fastest growing sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
“Schoolchildren are it’s hottest commodity,” the American journalist wrote.
See tweet:
It’s happened again…
More than one hundred schoolgirls have been abducted from their boarding house in northern #Nigeria, say officials & parents.
Kidnapping for ransom is now one of the fastest growing sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
Schoolchildren are it’s hottest commodity.
— Joe Parkinson (@JoeWSJ) February 26, 2021
Parkinson wrote a book about the Chibok girls abduction of 2014 titled, “Bring Back Our Girls: The Astonishing Survival and Rescue of Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls”.
The book is due for release in March 2021.
Revealing how he got the motivation for the book, the journalist wrote in his pinned tweet: “In 2017, @drewhinshaw & I entered a Nigerian cabinet minister’s office to ask why Boko Haram was ascendent. ‘Because we gave them millions of euros for the Chibok girls!’ he said with a nervous chuckle.
“It was a slip of a tongue that set us on a journey.”
Read Also: “Deal with terrorists decisively or resign” – Ganduje’s aide tells Buhari
Leave a Reply