Ranking the incidents by state, the report added that Kaduna recorded the highest number of individuals abducted, with 3,969 victims. This record is only followed at a close distance by Zamfara, which recorded 111 mass abductions in which 3,345 people were kidnapped.
A new report by SBM Intelligence has shown that Nigeria has witnessed about 735 mass abductions with 15,398 victims over the past five years.
The report titled, ‘Mass Abductions, The Catastrophe Of Nigeria's Kidnap Epidemic,’ noted that mass abduction is characterised by the kidnapping of at least five individuals in a single incident and the country has witnessed 68 incidents related to it from January to March 2024.
SBM Intelligence is an Africa-focused market/security intel gathering and strategic consulting firm.
The report reads: “Ten years after the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, Nigeria grapples with a nationwide kidnapping crisis. This epidemic has morphed from targeting schoolgirls to encompass entire villages, primary and tertiary students and highway commuters.
“Boko Haram’s use of school abductions as a terror tactic opened a window for other criminal groups. However, the tactic of using schools as a tool of anti-government terrorism has expanded to include non-school targets and economic motivations.
“Since 2019, Nigeria has witnessed at least 735 mass abductions (defined as kidnappings of five or more people), involving over 15,398 victims. 2024 alone has seen at least 68 mass abductions, averaging over one per day, with a victim count exceeding the entire years of 2019 and 2020 combined.”
Ranking the incidents by state, the report added that Kaduna recorded the highest number of individuals abducted, with 3,969 victims. This record is only followed at a close distance by Zamfara, which recorded 111 mass abductions in which 3,345 people were kidnapped.
It reads, “Kaduna and Zamfara share similarities with Katsina (which has a similar high number of incidents at 83 and casualties at 1,534) due to two major factors.
“First, the insecurity in the three states is driven by the rise of bandit warlords. Second, their geographic contiguity creates a network of shared borders, including the Rugu, Sububu and Munhaye forests, which makes collaboration between bandit groups seamless and eases victims’ transport across states.
“Outside of the Northwest, Niger which has a significant banditry crisis, dominates the charts, with 2,138 victims in 84 incidents. This translates to 25.4 people abducted per incident between 2019 and 2024.”
It continues: “The motivations behind kidnappings vary by region. While Boko Haram splinter groups like ISWAP still operate, their focus has shifted. ISWAP’s territorial control allows for taxation, reducing reliance on mass abductions— the Abubakar Shekau faction, however, resorts to mass abductions for survival. In the Northwest, bandit gangs are the primary culprits, targeting villages for unpaid levies and forced labour on bandit-controlled farms.”
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