Nigerians paid N2.57billion in ransoms in one year as kidnappers abduct 4,722, says intelligence report
A new SBM Intelligence study on the Nigeria’s kidnap-for-ransom economy has revealed that Nigerians paid at least N2.57 billion to kidnappers between July 2024 and June 2025, while abductors demanded N48 billion in the same period.
Penpushing reports that the SBM Intelligence described kidnapping as a lucrative criminal enterprise, explaining that the figures drawn from open-source tracking of incidents and media-verified cases nationwide also showed records of 4,722 victims across 997 incidents.
The records in same vein revealed that at least 762 deaths were linked to abduction-related violence, pointing out that payments made amounted to roughly 5.35 per cent of total ransom demanded.
Penpushing further reports that previous editions of the project found lower totals, underscoring a worsening kidnap economy, while records equally showed that several cases of kidnapping in different parts of the country were carried out by different armed groups.
The SBM Intelligence data suggested that Boko Haram got the largest share of ransom paid in this period, adding that out of the N124 million paid as ransom in Kwara State, al-Qaeda-linked group led by Mallam Mamuda got N100 million, representing 80 per cent of the total amount.
Penpushing also reports that the firm stated that this shows that Islamist terror groups got 33.7 per cent of the ransom paid in the period under review, blurring the line between ideology and convention.
The SBM Intelligence said the consequences of the burgeoning kidnapping economy are national in scale, pointing out that agricultural production falters as farmers face extortion, rural economies collapse under insecurity, and state legitimacy erodes.
“In the North, mass abductions threaten entire communities and food security; nationwide, the crime’s “democratisation” reflects a society where desperation breeds predation.Yet current responses—sporadic arrests and rhetorical condemnations—fail to address the roots of the crisis: a perfect storm of currency devaluation, poverty, and weak governance’, the body added
Penpushing reports that the report warns that the kidnap industry’s profitability—fueled by weak law enforcement, economic hardship and community-level extortion dynamics—will persist without targeted disruption of networks and financing flows.
“Unless security forces dismantle these networks and address root causes—poverty, unemployment, and weak law enforcement—the cycle of kidnappings, ransoms, and deaths will continue unchecked, leaving ordinary Nigerians in perpetual fear’, it emphasised.
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