{"id":36665,"date":"2026-08-27T11:49:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=36665"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:07:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:07:06","slug":"kidnapping-crisis-deepens-across-nigeria-as-ransom-payments-hit-7-78-billion-naira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/27\/kidnapping-crisis-deepens-across-nigeria-as-ransom-payments-hit-7-78-billion-naira\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidnapping Crisis Deepens Across Nigeria as Ransom Payments Hit 7.78 billion Naira"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kidnapping has grown into an increasingly lucrative criminal business across Nigeria, with armed groups collecting nearly 5.8 million in confirmed ransom payments in just one year as abductions rose sharply, according to a new security report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SBM Intelligence, a Nigerian security research firm, recorded 7,825 people kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026, a 66 percent increase from the previous year. At least 1,142 people were killed in incidents connected to kidnappings during the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirmed ransom payments reached 7.78 billion naira, or about 5.79 million, more than three times the amount documented during the previous reporting period. SBM said the true figure is likely much higher because many families negotiate privately and never disclose how much they pay for relatives to be released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The report showed that kidnapping is not driven by a single group or conflict. Criminal gangs commonly described in Nigeria as bandits operate extensively in the northwest and north central regions, while Islamist militants remain active in the northeast. The northwest recorded more kidnapping incidents and victims, but a faction of Boko Haram collected about 90 percent of the ransom payments documented in the northeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SBM warned that ransom money risks turning kidnapping into a reliable source of financing for armed groups. Without a broader strategy addressing both the causes of insecurity and the profits generated by abductions, the organization said Nigeria risks allowing kidnapping to become a funding mechanism for groups threatening the country\u2019s stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings come amid renewed alarm over mass abductions. In Niger State this month, gunmen attacked several communities during Friday prayers and abducted what residents said could be about 600 people, including women, children and older residents. Reuters said it could not independently verify that number, but confirmed that residents recognized relatives in a video circulated by the armed group. About 30 people were reported killed in the attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to carry out an immediate rescue operation following the Niger State attack. His administration has repeatedly promised to strengthen intelligence gathering, improve rapid response capabilities and increase cooperation among security agencies. Earlier this month, Tinubu praised security forces after 308 abducted people were rescued in coordinated operations in Niger and Kwara states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria\u2019s kidnapping crisis has evolved significantly over the past decade. International attention intensified in 2014 after Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State, sparking the global Bring Back Our Girls campaign. Since then, mass school kidnappings have spread beyond the northeast, with criminal gangs increasingly targeting students, travelers and rural communities for ransom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools have become particularly vulnerable. Hundreds of pupils have been taken in major attacks in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger and Kaduna states, sometimes forcing authorities to close schools in areas considered unsafe. In 2026 alone, new school abductions have been reported in several states, leaving families waiting weeks or months for missing children to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beyond the ransom payments, the human cost is harder to measure. Families often sell property, borrow money or rely on relatives to raise ransom demands, while farmers abandon fields and parents keep children away from school because of fear. Repeated attacks have also weakened confidence in the government\u2019s ability to protect communities far from major cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Nigeria, the latest figures underline a security challenge that is becoming both more violent and more profitable. As armed groups discover that abducting civilians can generate large sums of money, security experts warn that rescue operations alone may not be enough. Reducing the financial incentive behind kidnapping, improving security in vulnerable communities and preventing armed groups from controlling remote areas will be critical to reversing the trend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kidnapping has grown into an increasingly lucrative criminal business across Nigeria, with armed groups collecting nearly 5.8 million in confirmed ransom payments in just one year as abductions rose sharply, according to a new security report. SBM Intelligence, a Nigerian security research firm, recorded 7,825 people kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026, a 66 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":36669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3699,4,5,3],"tags":[938,1768,69,1992,118,23080,16293,63,22199,1003,523,23079,23078,1772,23077],"class_list":["post-36665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-featured","category-international","category-naija-news","tag-armed-groups","tag-banditry","tag-borno-state","tag-insecurity-in-nigeria","tag-kaduna","tag-kidnapping-victims","tag-mass-abductions","tag-niger-state","tag-nigeria-kidnapping","tag-nigeria-news","tag-nigeria-security","tag-ransom-payments","tag-sbm-intelligence","tag-security-crisis","tag-zamfara"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/images-20-4.jpg?fit=668%2C459&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36670,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36665\/revisions\/36670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}