Anita Ogona
Review of the SBM Intelligence report on Nigeria’s security landscape shows that 27 out of 36 states recorded ransom payments to kidnappers between July 2023 and July 2024.
Only nine states remain ransom-free: Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Oyo, Gombe, Taraba, Bayelsa, Bauchi and Kebbi.
This indicates widespread kidnapping-for-ransom activities across most Nigerian states.
The highest ransom was reported to have been paid in Anambra state – N350 million, while Rivers state follows with N67.7 million, Nasarawa, N55.5 million and Borno, N34.2 million.
The SBM Intelligence report shows that no fewer than 7,568 people were abducted across the country in the one-year period between July 2023 and July 2024.
It was noted that some of the issues include Boko Haram’s resurgence in the Northeast, armed gangs in the Northcentral and Northwest, secessionist violence in the Southeast, and gang-related issues in the Southwest.
“In that same period, kidnappers demanded at least the sum of N10,995,090,000 (approximately $6,871,931) as ransom but received N1,048,110,000, a mere 9.5% of the money demanded, indicating that kidnappers have become less targeted in their victimology,” the report saThere have been recorded cases of insecurity in Nigeria, and this situation has been blamed on a series of economic woes affecting the country, including food scarcity and rising cost of living.
While the government has vowed to ensure that there is a solution to the crisis, Nigerians have continued to lament insecurity.
Recently it was reported that President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s N3.2 trillion expenditure on security in one year had failed to end insecurity in the country.
