Nigeria, April 10 -- At the end of May 2020, SBM Intelligence published a report which points out that nearly $20 million was spent by Nigerians in ransom payments to kidnappers between 2011 and 2020. What is very important in that report is the observation that the bulk of that money was paid towards the end of that period, indicating an accelerating trend at some point. It is important to stress that the above figure is only from official reports. Unofficial ransom payments by even the state, such as the nearly one billion naira the government paid to Buharin Daji, a prominent militia leader who operated in Zamfara in the North West, was not captured. Since that report was published, kidnaps have made the news over and over, and I have be...