Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has on Wednesday called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to stop the payment of ransom to kidnappers and bandits, adding that the practice is currently fueling the problem of insecurity in the country.

Obasanjo spoke while hosting members of the Tiv Professionals Group led by Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu, who visited him at his Pent House residence located within the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.

He urged the Federal Government to evolve a more effective means of tackling insecurity, particularly the menace of kidnapping and banditry currently ravaging the country, rather than payment of ransom to the criminals.