Kidnappers have killed at least 614,937 Nigerians and collected N2.23 trillion as ransom in 12 months.
This was revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024 released in Abuja on Tuesday.
It said there were at least 2,235,954 kidnapping incidence across the country between May 2023 and April 2024.
The NBS report said the average amount paid as ransom for kidnapping was N2.7 million per incident.
The Northwest paid the highest ransom of N1.2 trillion, while the Southeast paid the lowest of NN85..4 billion within the 12 months under review.
The report showed that rural areas recorded more kidnappings with 1,668,104 reported cases than urban areas with 567,850.
Analysis by zones revealed that the North-West recorded the highest number of cases with 1,420,307, followed by the North-Central with 317,837, while the least was recorded in the South-East with 110,432.
It showed that nationally, an estimated 51,887,032 crime incidences were experienced by households in Nigeria.
It said the North-West reported the highest incidence of household crime, totalling 14,402,254, followed by the North-Central with 8,771,400,
“ The South-East reported the least incidence of household crime with 6,176,031.”
The report revealed that crime incidence in rural areas was higher, totalling 26,526,069, compared to urban areas at 25,360,963.
The NBS said in Nigeria, 4,142,174 households experienced home robbery incidence.
Analysis by zones showed that the North-West had the highest home robbery cases totalling 1,068,430, followed by the South-South with 811,231, while the least was recorded in the South-West with 378,252 cases.
The report said that less than half of the households, at 36.3 per cent, who were victims of home robbery reported to the police.
According to this study, the most common reasons for not reporting crimes include lack of confidence in law enforcement and the belief that police intervention would not result in meaningful action.
The findings showed that about 24 per cent of households would rather report to other authorities instead of the police, followed by those who believed the police would not do anything upon reporting at 22.7 per cent.
