Kidnappers and other armed groups collected at least N7.78 billion in ransom payments between July 2025 and June 2026, as the number of people abducted across Nigeria rose by 66 per cent, a report by SBM Intelligence has revealed.
The security consultancy said 7,825 people were abducted during the 12-month period, while at least 1,142 others were killed in kidnapping and kidnap-related incidents.
The report showed that the confirmed ransom payments, estimated at about $5.79 million, more than tripled from N2.56 billion recorded in the previous reporting cycle.
SBM Intelligence, in the report on Nigeria’s kidnap economy, said the figures were compiled from media reports, interviews and publicly available information.
It, however, noted that the actual scale of ransom payments could be higher, as many payments were not publicly disclosed.
The report said a faction of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (JAS), accounted for about 90 per cent of the recorded ransom payments during the period.
According to the report, the group received about N7 billion, largely from two mass abduction incidents involving more than 300 victims each.
It said the N7 billion included an estimated N5 billion ransom linked to the abduction of 416 persons in Ngoshe, Borno State, and N2 billion connected with the abduction of 315 pupils and staff of St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State.
The report also showed that although the Northeast accounted for the bulk of the ransom payments, the Northwest recorded more kidnapping incidents and victims.
SBM Intelligence said kidnapping had become a major driver of Nigeria’s worsening security challenge, with gunmen increasingly targeting schools, communities and major roads.
It noted that mass abductions had re-emerged as a major tactic, raising concerns about the impact of insecurity on education, farming and public confidence in government.
“School abductions have resurged, with the Papiri attack reviving a tactic whose costs ripple through education, farming and public trust,” the report said.
The findings came amid renewed concern over mass kidnappings in Niger State, where President Bola Tinubu recently directed security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue hundreds of abducted civilians.
SBM Intelligence warned that Nigeria risked allowing kidnapping to become an entrenched criminal economy and a major funding source for armed groups if decisive action was not taken.
The organisation called for a coordinated strategy that would address both the financial incentives driving kidnapping and the underlying conditions fuelling the crime.
It warned that failure to tackle the problem could further undermine Nigeria’s stability and deepen the country’s security crisis.
