Nigeria is grappling with a complex and multifaceted insecurity crisis, marked by rising cases of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, and communal clashes. The country’s northwestern region is particularly affected, with Zamfara, Kaduna, and Niger states being hotspots of violence.
The Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast also persists, while separatist movements in the southeast and southwest add to the security challenges. The situation has resulted in significant human suffering, displacement, and economic losses, with the government facing criticism for its response to the crisis.
RipplesMetrics has reported how over 8,000 people were killed in 2023 due to developing insecurity crises in the country. For the first six months of 2024, over 5,00 fatality cases have been reported. This is despite President Bola Tinubu’s promise to make security one of his top priorities when he assumed office on May 29, 2023.
Meanwhile, another leg on developing insecurity crises spanning over a decade is kidnapping. Beyond the fact that victims are kidnapped, which consists of children, clerics and local residents, kidnappers make billions from ransom payments.
A compilation of SBM intelligence reports on the economics of kidnapping has shown that between 2011 and July 2024, victims paid over of N9.79 billion to kidnappers as ransom payments in Nigeria. This figure does not include many instances that go unreported to security agencies.
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The data showed that between 2011 and 2020, a total of over $18 million, about N6.8 billion was paid to kidnappers. The report revealed that between January 2016 and March 2020 alone, $11 million (N4.19 billion) was paid out by victims.
Meanwhile, between July 2021 and June 2022, a total of N19.36 billion was demanded as ransom from kidnappers of each N1.65 billion was paid by the victims. Furthermore, in July 2022 and June 2023, N5.09 billion was demanded from victims while N302.2 million was paid.
In SBM’s recent report, kidnappers demanded at least the sum of N10,995,090,000 (approximately $6,871,931) as ransom but received N1,048,110,000.
Breakdown of data across the years
Between July 2011 and the end of March 2020, the states with the highest kidnapping incidents were Rivers (120), Kaduna (117), Delta (96), Bayelsa (85), Borno (82), and Kogi (59) states. The data also showed that the fatalities recorded during the kidnapping attempts were in Borno (489), Kaduna (209), Katsina (147), Rivers (132), Adamawa (91) and Niger (62).
Meanwhile, from July 2021 to June 2022, the total number of incidents reported was 500, with a total of 3379 people kidnapped and 474 casualties reported across the affected states.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, SBM Intelligence found that at least 3,620 people were kidnapped in 582 kidnap-related incidents in Nigeria.
While, between July 2023 and June 2024, our research found that no fewer than 7,568 people were abducted in 1,130 incidents across the country.
Of the 1,130 reported kidnapping cases, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina have the highest numbers of incidents and victims. Zamfara recorded 132 incidents with 1,639 victims, Kaduna had 113 incidents with 1,113 victims, and Katsina reported 119 incidents with 887 victims.
By James Odunayo
The post RipplesMetrics: Kidnappers made N9.8 billion from victims in Nigeria within 13 years appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Naomisophyblog.
