Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an estimate of the number of kidnappings for ransom that have occurred in Nigeria in the last two years.

A reliable estimate of the number of kidnaps for ransom in Nigeria in the last two years is hard to calculate, because of the number of agencies involved in kidnap response and recording. However, we are aware that several thousand kidnap for ransom cases are reported each year.

Through our Security and Defence Partnership, the UK is helping Nigeria build its capacity to respond to kidnaps. We are providing mentoring and capacity-building support to Nigerian Police Force units to improve their anti-kidnap capacity, to help reduce harm to victims, and to hold those responsible to account.