Inside Nigeria's kidnap crisis

Nigeria is in the grip of a kidnapping epidemic. Thousands of people have been taken, millions of dollars in ransoms paid.

What began as a protest against the unequal distribution of oil wealth has now become a major security threat to Nigerians at all levels of society.

The Intelligence Response Team, or IRT, was set up specifically to tackle kidnapping and armed robbery.

Led by Commander Abba Kyari, known by many as “Nigeria’s Supercop”, the unit has tracked down a who’s who of Nigerian kidnappers since 2015.

Is this unit the answer to Nigeria’s kidnap crisis or just more of the same corruption and violence that has plagued policing in the country for decades?

Reporter: Kunle Falayi.

1 July 2019