THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion to kidnappers as ransoms in 12 months.
The payments were made between May 2023 and April 2024.
In its latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report, the NBS revealed that Nigerian households experienced an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents within the period.
The North-West region topped the list with 14.4 million reported cases, followed closely by the North-Central region with 8.8 million incidents.
Meanwhile, the South-East region recorded the lowest number of crimes, with 6.18 million incidents.
The report showed that crime disproportionately affected rural areas, with 26.53 million incidents occurring in rural households compared to 25.36 million in urban areas.
Kidnapping was particularly a major issue, as 4.14 million households fell victim to home robberies.
Sixty-five per cent of those kidnapped were forced to pay ransom, with an average payment of N2.67 million, totalling N2.23 trillion nationwide.
Despite these figures, underreporting remained a significant issue, with only 36.3 per cent of home robbery victims and a similarly low percentage of kidnapping victims reporting the incidents to the authorities, the NBS stated.
The report partly reads, “Among households that experienced kidnapping incidents, 65.0 per cent paid a ransom. The average amount paid as ransom was N2,670,693, with an estimated total ransom of N2,231,772,563,507 paid within the reference period.”
According to the survey, many victims of crime didn’t report to the authorities, citing a lack of trust in law enforcement and doubts about the effectiveness of police intervention.
The survey found that 21.4 per cent of Nigerians experienced crime firsthand, with phone theft being the most common offence, affecting 13.8 per cent of the population. While most phone theft victims reported the crime to the police, only half were satisfied with the response.
It noted that the situation was more dire for victims of sexual offences, with an estimated 1.4 million Nigerians affected. Only 22.7 per cent of these victims reported the crime to the authorities.
The survey found that 9.6 per cent of Nigerians believed they were at risk of becoming victims of crime within the next one year, with rural areas feeling more vulnerable than urban areas.
The report also raised concerns about the effectiveness of Nigeria’s security agencies, particularly the police, in responding to emergencies. Only 33.1 per cent of Nigerians reported that security agencies responded to emergency calls within 30 minutes.
In many rural areas, local vigilante groups were seen as a more reliable source of security, highlighting the need for improved trust and effectiveness in Nigeria’s law enforcement agencies.
Kidnapping for ransom has become a national security threat in Nigeria. How it’s done varies from targeting individuals to indiscriminate kidnappings and mass kidnappings in schools and communities.
There has been a growing body of research on the subject. However, there remains a gap in understanding how families mobilise resources and deliver ransom to kidnappers.
In recent years, Nigeria has seen a sharp increase in kidnappings. This has seen citizens pay billions of naira in ransom to secure the release of their loved ones at the hands of kidnappers.
In this report, The ICIR examines cases of kidnapping, ransom payment, and the cost of being kidnapped in Nigeria.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance