Over 2 million Nigerians kidnapped, more than 600,000 killed in one year: Report

A new report is shedding light on rampant violence in Nigeria. The findings from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show on Thursday, Dec. 19, that more than 2 million Nigerians were kidnapped and more than 600,000 were killed between May of last year and April of this year.

The report also notes that 7 out of 10 households in Nigeria reported murders to law enforcement and kidnapping victims paid out more than $1.4 billion in ransoms over the same time period.

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The NBS said the killings and kidnappings are mostly from armed gangs in the northwest and north-central part of the country, while terrorism occurs largely in the northeast of the West African nation.

The news comes as security concerns continue to rise, and security forces are stretched thin as they try to rein in gang violence and terrorism. Security analyst Saheed Shehu says the latest number should be a wakeup call for the Nigerian government to take action now.

Nigerian defense authorities say they are making progress, saying two weeks ago, the military killed 8,000 terrorists and arrested 11,000 suspects, while rescuing 6,000 victims. However, Shehu says he is skeptical of those numbers given the recent findings in the NBS report.

Shehu said, “It does not balance with this report. So, something must be wrong somewhere.”

Quelling gang and terrorist activity has been a major challenge for Nigeria’s government. The country invested 12% of this year’s budget, or around $4 billion, to defense, the largest allocation to any department of government.