BANDITRY and terrorist attacks have escalated across Nigeria, leading to the death of 7,222 persons and abduction of 3,823 others in the past seven months, according to data from the Nigeria Security Report.
The report was published by Beacon Consulting, a security risk management and intelligence consulting company.
Between January 1 and July 29, no fewer than 1,499 people were injured in various attacks in 505 local government areas in the country, the report said.
A breakdown according to geopolitical zones revealed that the North-East recorded 777 incidents, in which 2,052 individuals were killed and 344 kidnapped.
In the North-West, 519 incidents occurred, leading to the death of 2,229 individuals, while 1,989 were abducted.
No fewer than 494 incidents were witnessed in the North-Central, of which 1,748 residents lost their lives, and 950 were kidnapped.
Borno State recorded the highest number of deaths with 163 people for the period under review, while Benue State followed closely with 90 fatalities.
The third most unsafe state was Kaduna, with 82 deaths, according to the report.
The South-West recorded 420 incidents which led to the death of 386 individuals, and abduction of 195 others.
Ondo State recorded the highest fatalities in the South-West region with 55 persons killed in the monitored period while Ebonyi State, with 28 fatalities, has the highest figures in the South-East region.
“In June 2022, the government’s efforts significantly reduced the security incidents and fatalities but not abductions, compared with May 2022.
“Accordingly, in the sixth month of the year, we recorded 338 incidents that resulted in 651 abductions and 765 fatalities.
“These affected 185 Local Government Areas in 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja,” the report added.
The report revealed that government’s drastic interventions only reduced fatalities between May and June 2022 but did not positively have an impact on abductions as it showed:
“Incidents – May (421) and June (338) representing a 19.7 per cent decrease; fatalities – May (913) and June (765) representing a 16.2 per cent decrease, and abduction – May (265) and June (651), representing a 145.7 per cent increase,” the report said.
“A thematic analysis shows these main incident typologies as responsible: raids by non-state actors, where they targeted rural communities mainly – was responsible for 350 fatalities, combat/crossfire – 183 fatalities, and ambush – 79 fatalities,” the report said.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.