Nigerians paid N2.3trn ransom in 12 months – NBS
Nigerians paid a staggering N2.3 trillion in ransom in one year, a report released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated.
The figure was drawn from the 2024 Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) covering May 2023 to April 2024.
The survey found 65 per cent of households impacted by kidnappings paid ransoms, averaging N2.67 million per incident.
Of the estimated amount of N2.3 trillion payments to free victims, “the North West reported the highest ransom paid with N1.2 trillion; while the South East was the least with N85.4 billion. Disaggregated by zones, the North Central reported the highest proportion of payment of ransom at 83.4 per cent, followed by North East at 78.6 per cent.
“Households in urban areas paid an average of N3.7 million compared to N2.3 million in rural areas,” the report stated.
During this period, an estimated 51.9 million crime incidents were recorded nationwide, with the North-West recording the highest at 14.4 million cases, followed by the North-Central, 8.8 million; and South-East, with the lowest recorded incidents of 6.2 million cases.
Rural areas reportedly had higher crime rates, put at 26.5 million incidents, as against the 25.4 million recorded in urban centres.
The NBS report showed that robberies affected over 4.1 million households, but only 36.3 per cent of victims reported to the police due to scepticism and distrust.
At the individual level, 21.4 per cent of Nigerians reported being victims of crimes, with phone theft accounting for 13.8 per cent of the incidents.
Among phone theft victims, 90 per cent reported to the police, according to the NBS survey, but only half expressed satisfaction with the police responses.
Also, sexual offences affected an estimated 1.4 million individuals within the period of the report.
On kidnappings, the report said 1,668,104 persons were kidnapped in rural areas and 567,850 in urban areas.
The report indicated that the North West had the highest cases of kidnapping with 1,420,307 abducted followed by the North Central (317,837) and the South-East, 110,432.
The report also said a total of 1,587,363 motor vehicle thefts occurred within the reference period of the survey and analysis by zones revealed that the North West recorded the highest (603,756), followed by North Central (246,329) and South West had the least (140,144).
“Further disaggregation by place of residence shows that rural areas had the highest with 887,002 while urban areas recorded the least with 700,361. Nationally, among households that experienced theft of motor vehicles, 57.6 per cent reported to the police”, it said.
The NBS’ report also stated that Nigerians had begun to pay for their security with a national average of N80,878 spent on security measures over the past 12 months.
“Disaggregation by zones shows that the South East reported the highest average amount at N135,398, followed by North Central at N103,476 and the South West, N34,408.
“Analysis by place of residence revealed that urban households spent more money on security measures (N86,997) than rural households (N72,849),” he said.
On the places that respondents considered unsafe, the report said individuals who visited Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points reported the highest feelings of being unsafety at 31.7 per cent, followed by public transport with 29.1 per cent and religious places, 7.0 per cent.
Reacting to the NBS’ report, an intelligence and security expert, Abdullahi Garba, said for the insecurity to abate, the federal government should address the socio-economic challenges facing the country.
“The target of those kidnappers is to get money. They will always want to get such ransom from those they feel have the financial muscle to pay it. Who are they? The rich. It is just unfortunate that the poor have been the major victims.
“The factors responsible for this are not far-fetched. The socio-economic challenges facing the country are not getting better. The rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer.
“For instance, if you observe very well, only the rich, who have the financial strength to pay electricity bill of ‘Band A’ enjoy 24-hour or close to 24-hour light. The poor can no longer enjoy this kind of light because they can’t afford it.
“There are a lot of instances like that. With this kind of situation, those criminals also observe, they know what’s going on in the society. It is just unfortunate that the rich they target hardly fall victims,” he said.
He asked the government to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, saying: “Majority of those kidnappers are youths. Even though they may have backing, it is the youths that perpetrate such crime. If they’re gainfully employed, they won’t engage in such nefarious activities.”
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga; the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, and the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, did not respond to inquiries on the report by Daily Trust.
Also, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, when contacted, promised to find out and revert but did not, while several phone calls to the Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, went unanswered and a WhatsApp message sent to him not replied.