Nigerians paid a total of N2.23 trillion in ransom to get their freedom between May 2023 and April 2024, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, December 17.
The amount was paid by households impacted by kidnapping cases, according to the most recent Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) report from the NBS.
The CESPS report offers a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria’s crime condition.
According to the survey’s findings, during the reference period, an estimated 51.89 million crime occurrences were reported in Nigerian households.
According to the poll, the North-West region had the greatest crime rate, with 14.4 million occurrences reported.
The North-Central region came in second with 8.8 million incidences. 6.18 million crimes were reported in the South-East, the least amount of any region.
The results also showed that, with 26.53 million criminal events in rural homes compared to 25.36 million in urban ones, crime was more prevalent in rural areas than in urban ones.
Given that home robberies occur in 4.14 million households, the research emphasized the seriousness of kidnapping.
Of those impacted by kidnappings, 65% had to pay a ransom to get the victims released.
Nigerians paid criminals a total of N2.23 trillion during the course of the year, with the average ransom paid being N2.67 million.
Despite this, only 36.3% of people who had been robbed at home reported the crime to the police, and the same is true for kidnapping.
“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),” the report read.
“In Nigeria, 4,142,174 households experienced home robbery. Less than half (36.3 per cent) of the households who were victims of home robbery reported their experience to the police. Among households that experienced kidnapping incidents, 65.0 per cent 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 primary reasons given by many victims for not reporting were their lack of trust in law enforcement and their conviction that significant action would not result from police intervention.
Additionally, according to the report, 21.4% of Nigerians were victims of personal crime, with 13.8 percent of the population being affected by phone theft, which is the most prevalent crime.
Only half of victims of phone theft expressed satisfaction with the police reaction, despite the fact that 90% of victims reported the offenses to the authorities.
Additionally, according to the poll, 1.4 million Nigerians were victims of sexual offenses, the majority of which took place at the victim’s home or in the home of another person.
Only 22.7% of victims of sexual offenses reported their crimes to the authorities.
