AT least 7,825 people were abducted in Nigeria in 1,713 incidents between July 2025 and June 2026, while at least 1,142 people were killed, according to data from SBM Intelligence cited in the 9th Nigeria Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16 Shadow Report.
The report, produced by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Transparency International Nigeria, said the figures point to the growing scale and profitability of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria.
According to the report, the number of kidnapping victims increased by 66 per cent compared with the previous year.
During the period under review, the report noted that kidnappers demanded approximately N22.9 billion in ransom and received about N7.78 billion, meaning roughly 34 per cent of the recorded ransom demands were paid.
This represented a sharp increase from the previous year, when approximately 5.4 per cent of recorded ransom demands were reportedly paid, the report said.
The report said the increase in both the number of people abducted and the proportion of ransom demands that were successfully collected suggested that kidnapping for ransom was becoming a more financially viable criminal enterprise.
It said the development had increased the significance of kidnapping as a source of illicit finance.
Kidnapping spreads beyond traditional hotspots
The report said kidnapping, historically concentrated in parts of the North-West and Middle Belt, continued to spread geographically during the period under review.
It cited attacks in Southern Nigeria, including attacks on educational institutions in the South-West, as evidence of the expanding reach of organised criminal groups.
According to the report, the groups increasingly operate with intelligence networks and financial systems characteristic of structured criminal enterprises.
The development came despite military and law-enforcement operations aimed at tackling insecurity.
The report said weak prosecution rates, limited intelligence coordination, poverty, unemployment and governance deficits continued to create conditions that support criminal recruitment and territorial control by organised groups.
It said the combination of these factors and the rise in kidnapping indicated that Nigeria remained off track on Sustainable Development Goal 16 targets relating to violence reduction and the prevention of organised crime.
Other security data
The SDG report also cited data from Nextier’s Nigeria Violent Conflicts Database, which recorded 156 violent incidents in May 2026 alone, resulting in 842 deaths and 279 kidnappings.
Compared with May 2025, the number of violent incidents increased by 51.5 per cent, while fatalities rose by 90.1 per cent, according to the report.
SBM Intelligence separately recorded 5,091 killings nationwide between April and June 2026, including 2,644 unarmed civilians, according to the report.
Some local initiatives show results
Despite the worsening national picture, the report pointed to some community-led initiatives that produced positive outcomes.
It cited peacebuilding efforts in parts of Katsina State, where community mediation reportedly contributed to the release of abductees without ransom payments and helped restore farming activities in previously insecure communities.
The report said the experience demonstrated the potential value of local mediation and social cohesion alongside conventional security responses.
The report further linked the rise in kidnapping to broader weaknesses in Nigeria’s fight against organised crime, arguing that the increasing number of abductions and ransom payments showed how kidnapping had developed into a significant commercial criminal enterprise.
It called for stronger responses to the structural conditions that enable organised criminal groups to recruit members, control territory and generate illicit revenue.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M