Nearly 6,000 Lives Lost To Insecurity In First Half Of 2021 Across Nigeria

Almost 6,000 people were killed in Nigeria between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2021 year, according to data analysed by HumAngle.

The Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), which collects information on violence cases in the country, estimated based on media publications that at least 5,838 people were killed and 2,944 others kidnapped over the six-month period.  The killings and abductions of citizens were recorded in the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Among those killed were 2,897 civilians and 499 security officials.

The records show a total of 1,325 incidents, compared to 824 in the first six months of 2020. The rates of civilian deaths and kidnapping have also worsened compared to the same period last year when the victims numbered 1,927 and 1,015 respectively.

Additionally, while 1,015 people were recorded to have been kidnapped in the first half of 2020, this increased to 2,842 in 2021. And then while a total of 824 violent incidents were documented last year, in 2021 this grew to 1,272.

The figures reflect shifts in the dynamics of the security challenge besetting the country as the most vulnerable region has now become the Northwest where 1,976 people were killed, followed by the Northeast where Boko Haram factions operate, which had 1,453 fatalities, then the North-central region (1,103). 

HumAngle earlier reported how the numbers similarly show the wave of kidnapping shifting from one region to the other.

Back in 2015, the Northeast and South-south had the highest numbers of victims as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the former and acts of militancy in the latter. But, a few years down the line, especially in 2020 and 2021, the North-central and Northwest have now become the hardest-hit regions due to spreading terrorism and banditry.

This year, states in the Northwest had 1405 victims of kidnapping, followed by the North-central region (942), then Northeast (211), Southwest (169), South-south (140), and Southeast (77).

Borno, with 1,169 recorded deaths, had the highest fatality in the period, then Zamfara (862), Kaduna (715), Benue (451), and Niger (410).

When it comes to abductions, the hardest-hit state was Niger with 795 victims, followed by Zamfara (523), Kaduna (479), Katsina (289), and Borno (116).

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, admitted that insecurity was the toughest challenge facing the country, describing the trend of violence as “an existential threat.”

‘‘In these circumstances, we must do everything within our power, without consideration of distractions, to put an end to their activities and bring them to book,” he said.