A mind-boggling sum of N2.2 trillion was paid as ransom by Nigerians between May, 2023 and April, 2024.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took office on May 29,2023.
The shocking ransom figure was made available by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Such payments came amid rising insecurity in the land even as security agencies keep battling terrorists,bandits,kidnappers and others involved in the roiling violence.
NBS published the ransom amount in its latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report.
The report showed that the ransoms were paid by households affected by kidnapping incidents, highlighting the growing threat posed by criminal activities in the country.
According to the report, an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households in the period under survey.
A breakdown of the survey report showed that the troubled North-West zone led the log with the highest incidents -14.4 million cases reported, followed by the North-Central zone with 8.8 million incidents.
However, the South-East zone reported the least crime, with 6.18 million incidents.
Another interesting aspect to the findings was 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.
NBS added: “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.”
