This self-paced online course has been specifically designed from a Nigerian perspective to cater to the types of kidnapping and banditry that are on the rise in Africa and Latin America. The course penetrates the mind and world of the kidnapper to the position of the kidnapped, looking at prevention and survival. Unit 8.7 is a free trial lesson from the curriculum list on the next page.
Kidnapping and banditry are on everyone’s lips. All efforts by the government and law enforcement to stop it are ongoing but insufficient to the extent that suggestions of self-defense have been advocated by senior officials within the government.
But the weapon of defense to lessen your chances of getting kidnapped, or surviving a kidnapping if it occurs, is preventive security training and survival techniques. This should now be considered a part of everyone’s risk-management arsenal, especially for brick and mortar establishments where employees and customers congregate.
How to influence the kidnappers to your advantage and how to relate to angry and violent kidnappers is important in case the narrow chance of getting kidnapped occurs. Today, those odds have increased exponentially. No one should die or be mistreated because they lack basic knowledge of influence psychology.
One’s security training conducted by trained professionals is the key to prevention and survival. You are 99.99% less likely to ever get kidnapped if you understand avoidance through counter-surveillance and counter-reconnaissance, and four times more likely to survive a kidnapping if preventive security training was achieved.
Kidnap preventative training and survival techniques are valuable because it typically includes provisions for providing professional security consultants for preventive training, and if prevention fails, generally provide guidance on kidnap negotiators, who assist in advocating ways for raising ransom or extortion payments. It prevents injury or death of victims during captivity, attempted rescue or release and will guide payments to informants, etc. when a kidnapping occurs, ensuring your survival.
At one point, it was thought of as being a problem only in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. But today, we witness its dominance in the northeast and its increasing spread to the northwest, northcentral, and the southeast. In the southwest, places like Lagos and Ogun state now worry about being kidnapped as much as those in Kaduna and Bornu state. It is all over the place.
The information contained in this self-paced short online course will make it impossible for the learner or anyone close to them to ever get kidnapped or not come out alive in such situations. It is designed for everyone as we believe it can happen to anyone in today’s climate.
There is a BuddyPress Group discussion forum debate on every topic as part of the course with learners from all parts of the country and beyond as participants. And security agents, field practitioners, and previous hostages sharing their experiences through video lessons.
You will never fear being kidnapped again or not surviving if it occurs. Your certificate of completion will enable you to educate others in helping prevent this menace from spreading any further in your region. The more people you educate, the more lives you save, and the fewer opportunities you give the kidnappers to thrive. The war against kidnapping and banditry starts with every one of us.
Individuals, managers, leaders, security personnel in financial institutions, healthcare, entertainment/hospitality, supermarkets, communication providers, civil and public servants, building managers including oil sector workers, and those with staffed branches nationwide are strongly encouraged to take this course.
Brief Course Curriculum (refer to curriculum for full details)
⦁ Introduction, Origins of, Criminal Gangs, the Triggers, and Objectives.
⦁ Kidnappers Tactics, Operations, Target Selection, Counter-Recognisance, and Surveillance Avoidance.
⦁ Abductions – Getting Abducted, Planning, Escaping, Implicating, Distress Calls and SMS, GPS and RF Signals- Preventative Measures
⦁ Detention – the Location, Your Senses, the Stockholm Syndrome, Keeping Safe Within, Giving and Getting Information, Mental Preparedness, the First Few Days
⦁ Negotiation, Ransom and Release – Kidnapping as an Economic and Political Enterprise, the Family Vs. the Government, Negotiating the Process, Communication, Negotiation as an Art, and Profession. Case study: The Greenfield University Kidnap.
⦁ Detection, Apprehension, and Ransom Payments.
⦁ Security Measures – at the Work, Home, Transit/Road, Hotels, Roadblocks, State of the Art Detection and Prevention Technology.
⦁ Risk Assessment and Crisis Management – Contingency Planning, Government and Law Enforcement, Media Relations, Rehabilitation. National Prevention Strategy.