Nigerians pay N7.78 billion ransom as kidnappings surge 66%

Nigerians paid at least N7.78 billion in ransom to kidnappers between July 2025 and June 2026, as the number of people abducted across the country jumped by about 66% within one year, according to a new report by SBM Intelligence.

The report, titled The Capture of Nigeria’s Kidnap Economy, showed that 7,825 people were abducted during the period, compared with 4,722 victims in the previous reporting cycle.

The incidents also became deadlier, with at least 1,142 people killed, up from 762 previously.

What the report says

SBM recorded 1,411 kidnapping incidents and another 302 security operations related to kidnapping, bringing the total number of kidnap and kidnap-related incidents to 1,713.

• Kidnappers demanded N22.86 billion during the period but received N7.78 billion, equivalent to a 34% collection rate. This represented a major shift from the previous year, when N48 billion was demanded but only N2.56 billion was reportedly paid, giving kidnappers a collection rate of 5.35%.
• The report read, “Ransom demanded fell from N48 billion to N22.9 billion, yet the amount actually paid more than tripled, from N2.56 billion to N7.78 billion. The collection rate jumped from 5.35% to 34%.”

However, the report noted that the N7.78 billion figure is likely a conservative estimate. It could establish exact payment amounts for only 70 incidents, while ransom was confirmed to have been paid in another 16 cases without verifiable figures.

Boko Haram takes 90% of ransom payments

The surge in payments was largely driven by the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad faction of Boko Haram and allied cells, which collected N7.0015 billion, or 90% of all recorded ransom payments, from only eight cases.

• The group demanded N9.205 billion and secured 76.1% of the amount. In contrast, unaffiliated kidnappers and bandits demanded a combined N13.49 billion from 146 cases but received just N719.4 million, representing a 5.3% collection rate.
• Two mass kidnappings accounted for nearly the entire national ransom bill. In April 2026, 416 people were abducted in Ngoshe, Borno State, with the full N5 billion demanded reportedly paid, the largest ransom recorded in SBM’s dataset.
• Another N2 billion was reportedly paid following the November 2025 abduction of 315 children and staff from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State. Together, the two incidents generated N7 billion in ransom payments.

Borno consequently accounted for N5.05 billion, or 65% of ransom payments nationwide, followed by Niger with N2 billion. Kwara recorded N278.3 million, Kaduna N64 million and Sokoto N58 million. The five states together accounted for 95.8% of payments.

North bears brunt as mass abductions rise

Northern Nigeria remained the epicentre of the crisis, accounting for 7,334 victims or 93.7% of all people abducted, against only 491 victims across the southern states.

• Zamfara was the worst-hit state, recording 236 kidnapping incidents and 1,921 victims, equivalent to almost one-quarter of all victims nationwide. Sokoto followed with 1,157 victims, Kaduna with 814, Katsina with 559 and Kwara with 265.
• Mass kidnappings also became the dominant model. SBM classified 396 of the 1,411 kidnapping incidents as mass abductions involving at least five victims each. Those incidents accounted for 6,222 victims, or 79.5% of everybody kidnapped during the year.
• Zamfara alone recorded 92 mass abductions, followed by Sokoto with 76, while the Northwest accounted for 267 of the 396 cases.

The human cost extended beyond captivity. Civilians accounted for 895 of the 1,142 deaths recorded, while 179 kidnappers and 68 security personnel were killed. In at least six incidents, victims were killed even after ransom had been paid.

SBM warned that kidnapping increasingly carries wider economic consequences by driving farmers from their land, raising private security costs, disrupting schooling and diverting household and business resources towards ransom payments.

It argued that the concentration of billions of naira in the hands of terrorist organisations turns ransom payments into a source of insurgency financing, capable of funding weapons and fighters and sustaining further attacks.

What you should know

A security expert Dr. Kabir Adamu, recently raised an alarm over the increasing use of Nigeria’s formal banking system for processing kidnap ransom payments.

Speaking on Arise News, Adamu, the CEO of Beacon Security and Intelligence Ltd, expressed shock over the growing trend.

• He warned that while Nigeria has made strides in financial intelligence, there are operational lapses within the banking sector that are facilitating these criminal activities.
• Adamu explained that in the past, kidnappers typically demanded cash payments for ransom. However, there has been a noticeable shift to using mainstream banks for transactions.

The SBM report called for stronger efforts to trace and disrupt ransom-related financial flows alongside economic measures aimed at reducing the pool of recruits available to armed groups, warning that Nigeria otherwise risks entrenching kidnapping as both a criminal industry and a financing mechanism for terrorism.