Abuja — The Unity Forum has called on the National Assembly to make laws that would prescribe the severest penalties for kidnappers and their accomplices.

The non-governmental organisation, in its recent meeting held in Abuja, condemned in totality the alarming rate of kidnappings for extortion, politics or rituals.

In a press statement signed by its chairman, Alhaji M. Abdu, it said that it is embarrassing the way kidnappings for the purpose of extorting money, started by criminals in the Niger Delta region, has become a trend, expanding to the frontiers of politics and rituals in all corners of the country.

The absurdity of the situation, according to the group, is such that the government appears to have failed in its primary responsibility, adding that it is worrisome the ease with which the criminals seem to be getting away with the heinous and unwholesome act.

While calling on the government to wake up to its responsibilities and summon the courage to deal decisively with those caught in the act of abduction and kidnapping, no matter how highly placed, the forum recalled with dismay the kidnap of a two-year old boy, who was snatched from his mother in Abuja in broad daylight by unknown kidnappers.

The group stated that efforts by the public to curb the situation in the past, which led to the emergence of community-based vigilante groups, has yielded no positive result, as the groups were quickly taken over by politicians who later use them as thugs against opponents and a tool to intimidate the general public.

It also condemned the lack of continuity in security projects and policies by different administrations, ascribing it to rising poverty, unresolved ritual and political killings, militancy, corruption and insecurity.