A report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday revealed that Nigerians paid an estimated N2.3 trillion as ransom in the 12 months. The figure, captured in the 2024 Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS), highlights the alarming prevalence and financial burden of crimes in the country.

The survey, which covered the period from May 2023 to April 2024, showed that 65 per cent of households affected by kidnapping incidents resorted to paying ransoms to secure the release of victims. On average, each household paid N2.67 million per incident.

According to the report, Nationally, an estimated 51,887,032 crime incidences were experienced by households. The North-West with about 14,402,254 reported the highest incidences of crime at the household level, followed by the North-Central (8,771,400), while the South-East (6,176,031) reported the least.

The report also shows that the crime incidence in the rural area which was 26,526,069 was higher than that of the urban area at 25,360,963 incidents reported. ?In Nigeria, 4,142,174 households experienced home robbery. Less than half (36.3%) of the households who were victims of home robbery reported their experience to the police.?

According to the report, the most common reasons for not reporting crimes include a lack of confidence in law enforcement and the belief that police intervention would not result in meaningful action. ?At the individual level, 21.4 per cent of Nigerians reported being victims of crime, and the most common crime was phone theft (13.8%).

Also, the report found that about 90 per cent of the victims of phone thefts reported to the police, and only 50 per cent of the victims expressed satisfaction with police responses. ?Nationwide, an estimated 1.4 million experienced sexual offences, which occurred mostly in someone else?s home (27.7%), followed by the victim?s home (22.2%).

?Sexual offences are less likely to occur at a public transport station (0.9%), and only 22.7 per cent of victims reported to the police. Public perception on safety shows that 9.6 percent of Nigerians believed they might be a victim of crime in the next 12 months.?

In rural areas, 13.0 per cent of the population believed they could be victims of crime and 7.0 per cent in urban areas.

Security agencies? average response time to emergencies is a key indicator of effective crime prevention. Nationally, 33.1% reported that the average response time to an emergency call by security agencies is less than 30 minutes.

About 4 out of 10 households had at least one interaction with state or local security forces within the reference period. Also,1 out of 2 households had contact with the Nigerian Police, and 25.7 per cent reported the incidence of crime to the police after experiencing a crime.

Satisfaction with police responses was notably low, particularly for crimes like livestock theft (42.9%) and crop theft (42.4%). In rural areas, many households rely on local vigilante groups. (BusinessDay)