IT is no longer fun to visit Nigeria. No thanks to kidnappers. And if Anambra State or any of the southeastern states is your final destination, you need a combination of luck and the miracle of your holy book to keep you away from the firm grip of abductors. As Christmas and the end-of-year festivities draw closer, everyone - including Nigerians in the Diaspora - is caught in a bind.

For Nigerians in the Diaspora, a visit to their fatherland could turn out to be an unintended invitation to kidnappers to place a price on their heads. And the amount of money which kidnappers demand for the release of their victims is staggering. It is unthinkable that, in the next four months, many people would have to cancel or postpone their traditional end-of-year home visit simply because of the nuisance of kidnapping. It is a dilemma that has no easy solution. To dare kidnappers is the easiest way to court death in Nigeria. But no one knows when this business enterprise known as abduction would end.

I made a dashing visit to Nigeria last week and found out, to my utter disgust and amazement, how the fear of kidnappers has compelled people in Anambra State to live like Hermits. Kidnappers, in concert with armed bandits, have crippled night life in Anambra State, forcing the government of Peter Obi to resuscitate the formerly dreaded security outfit known as "Bakassi". In Anambra, the fear of kidnappers is real. Anyone is a prime target. Although kidnappers are known to go after the super-rich and all those close to the affluent and media stars, verifiable evidence suggests that common people have also become targets of kidnappers. Hence, in Anambra, the poor and the rich, men and women, boys and girls, judges and magistrates, pastors and politicians are preys to the predatory instincts of kidnappers. Consider this!

The day I arrived in Anambra State, news came that Pete Edochie, the human face of the movie industry in Nigeria, was bundled out of his car in Onitsha and carried away - like a prized commodity - by kidnappers. Abduction has become a successful business venture in various parts of Nigeria essentially because of various factors, namely: the clinical precision with which the criminals strike anywhere and at anytime; their uncompromising bargaining skills (they always get the amount of money they want); and their unflinching determination to kill their victims if their demands are not met. Another factor that plays out in favour of kidnappers is the sophisticated weapons they carry, the kind that policemen and women would love to have but are denied by the institutions they serve.

The theatre of the absurd known as kidnapping has shifted location from Bayelsa to Rivers to Abia to Imo and is now well entrenched in Anambra. Kidnappers strike with ease where and when their victims least expect. For this reason, and also for the reason that the security agencies at state and federal levels have failed to match the speed, guile, nimbleness and invincibility of the kidnappers, a growing number of people are picked up like ants in their homes or on their way to/from work. Other victims are abducted on their way to/from church service. And yet others are taken hostage right inside their vehicles.

Anambra State is now regarded as the new nest of kidnappers. There are so many troubling questions. Why is Anambra State perceived as the kidnapping capital of Nigeria? Why has kidnapping turned Anambra State into a jungle where "might is right" is the dominant philosophy? Why has abduction become too difficult a problem for the state and the federal government to tackle? In Anambra, the security situation is grave and getting worse. It is often said that when kidnappers go into operation, policemen and women run for their own lives. That's a measure of the state of social disorganisation and the poor state of security in the state and across the nation. Owing to the ease with which abductors operate in Anambra, many people believe that when kidnappers strike, nobody is unchallengeable, no venue is unreachable and no location is inviolable.

The security situation in Anambra is in disarray, despite the recent revival of the dreaded "Bakassi" security outfit. While political leaders and security officials at state and federal levels are wringing their hands, wondering how to close the booming black market business in kidnapping, the criminals continue to operate freely and indiscriminately. There are many factors that feed the growing incidence of abduction. Number one factor is the failed nature of the Nigerian state, where every man and woman believe they can do anything and get away with it. Here is an example.

If you drive along the public eyesore once celebrated as the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, you will find innumerable roadblocks mounted by security agents comprising of men from the regular unit of the police force, the mobile police unit and the army. Along this stretch of road, you will find police and/or army checkpoints (within 200 metres of each other) marked by broken tree trunks and other rubbish which are deliberately placed in the middle of the road. These tree trunks pose traffic hazards in the day and at night. And then you wonder why kidnappers still operate freely when there are countless police and army checkpoints along such a busy highway.

It must be the case that the police men and women who operate the numerous checkpoints along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway have such poor vision specifically designed to enable them to see only commercial vehicle drivers from whom they extort various denominations of the naira while the real criminals are never intercepted or interrogated. The police hierarchy must explain whether the checkpoints (appropriately referred to as roadblocks) were designed to serve as money collection points or whether they were established as part of the overarching crime prevention measures. If the checkpoints are not for purposes of crime prevention, they should be dismantled forthwith.

Who would imagine that all manner of criminals, including kidnappers and armed robbers, could slip through many police security posts without being detected or arrested? Consider this irony! Every time a high profile person is kidnapped, the police hierarchy is quick to issue a statement to assure the public that the police are closing in on the criminals. No one should panic, they also tell us. However, after many months of failed promises, the public no longer listens to official statements or guarantees of public safety by the police.

Kidnapping is an unwanted worm that is eating deep into the Nigerian society. And the public has lost faith in the security forces. Nobody feels secure anymore, at home or in the public arena. When people analyse the causes of the growing cases of abduction in Nigeria, they point to factors such as greed, poverty, high levels of unemployment, social injustice, political apathy to the basic needs of the poor, as well as failed economic policies. Poverty is a major problem in Nigeria but I am not persuaded that poverty is the sole cause of social disintegration of the Nigerian society. The notion that poverty is the major cause of unprecedented incidents of abduction and other genres of crime in Nigeria is a simplistic attempt to analyse a complex social problem.

In order to tackle crime, federal and state governments should first address unemployment. Joblessness is the wind that propels poverty. If the youth are unemployed, their natural instinct to survive entails that they must find a way to sustain themselves in a harsh economic environment. In a country that cares less about the unemployed, in a country where there are no welfare payments targeted at underprivileged people, in a country where there is no unemployment benefits' scheme, crime becomes too tempting to resist. This is where the Nigerian nation has failed the future generation.

As the festive season draws near, the wave of abductions is likely to rise. Nigerians in the Diaspora who plan to travel home later this year must adopt three survival strategies. One: Keep your head down. Don't advertise your presence or your newfound wealth in your community. Two: Make sure you are always in the company of friends and family. Three: Don't announce your daily itinerary in the presence of strange people. These strategies do not provide foolproof guarantees that you won't be picked up by kidnappers but, somehow, they will offer you some sense of personal security. Finally, when everything fails, leave the rest to fate.