Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigerians paid a total of N2.23 trillion as ransom over the 12 months between May 2023 and April 2024.
According to the NBS’s latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report, this sum was paid by households affected by kidnapping incidents, highlighting the growing threat posed by criminal activities in the country.
It explained that an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households in the reference period.
The survey showed that the North-West region had the highest incidence of crime, with 14.4 million cases reported, followed by the North-Central region with 8.8 million incidents.
In contrast, the South-East region reported the least crimes, with 6.18 million incidents.
The findings also revealed that rural areas were more affected by crime than urban areas, with 26.53 million crime incidents in rural households compared to 25.36 million in urban areas.
The report highlighted the severity of kidnapping, with 4.14 million households experiencing home robbery.
Of those affected by kidnappings, 65 per cent were forced to pay ransom to secure the release of victims.
The average ransom paid was N2.67m, contributing to the total of N2.23tn paid by Nigerians to criminals during the 12 months.
Despite this, only 36.3 per cent of those who experienced home robbery reported the incidents to the police, with a similarly low reporting rate for kidnapping.
The report read, “Nationally, an estimated 51,887,032 crime incidences were experienced by households. The North-West (14,402,254) reported the highest incidences of crime at the household level, followed by the North-Central (8,771,400), while the South-East (6,176,031) reported the least. The result also shows that the crime incidence in the rural area (26,526,069) was higher than that of the urban area (25,360,963).
GIK/APA