Nigerians paid over N2.2trn as ransom in one year, 52m crime incidents recorded — National Bureau of Statistics
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion as ransom in one year between May 2023 and April 2024.
In its latest crime experience and security perception survey report, NBS indicated that an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households during the period.
The report said the north-west recorded the highest crime incidents estimated to be over 14 million , while the south-east has the least with over six million cases.
The NBS report also shows that the crime incidence in the rural area (26,526,069) was higher than that of the urban area (25,360,963).
“Nigeria recorded an estimated 51,887,032 household crime incidents. Disaggregation by zone reveals that the North-West (14,402,254) reported the highest incidences of household crime, followed by the North-Central (8,771,40), while the South-East (6,176,031) reported the least crime incidence,” the report revealed.
“The result also shows that the crime incidence in the rural areas (26,526,069) was higher than that of urban areas (25,360,963).
“Among households that experienced kidnapping incidents, 65.0 percent 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.”
The report highlighted that 4.14 million households experienced home robbery, but 36.3 percent of the households reported the robberies to the police.
“In Nigeria, 4,142,174 households experienced home robbery. Less than half (36.3 percent) of the households who were victims of home robbery reported their experience to the police,” the NBS report added.
“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.
“At the individual level, 21.4 percent of Nigerians reported being victims of crime, and the most common crime was phone theft (13.8%).
“About 90 percent of the victims of phone thefts reported to the police, and only 50 percent of the victims expressed satisfaction with police responses.” (TheCable)
