By Chinelo Obogo
No fewer than 17, 363 persons were killed across Nigeria in violent incidents between 2020 and 2021.
This was contained in a report compiled by SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical intelligence platform and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, released, yesterday.
The report attributed the deaths to attacks from Boko Haram, bandits, militia herdsmen, abductions and gang clashes in various states of Nigeria.
Data derived from media reports revealed that 7,063 people were killed in 2020, while 10,366 were killed in 2021, making it an average of 28 people killed daily in the country.
The breakdown showed that 972 were killed in the first quarter of 2020 (January to March), 2, 732 killed in the second quarter (April to June); 1, 588 people killed in the third quarter (July to September) and 1, 771 people killed in the fourth quarter (October to December).
In the first quarter of 2020, the report 574 civilians, 77 soldiers and 26 police officers were killed; while in the second quarter of the same year, 1, 053 civilians, 173 soldiers and 39 police officers were killed.
In the third quarter, 683 civilians, 119 soldiers and 10 police officers were killed, while in the last quarter, 1147 civilians, 173 soldiers and 32 police officers were killed.
In 2021, 2, 861 people were killed in the first quarter, 3, 133 in the second quarter, 2, 287 in the third quarter and 2, 085 killed in the last quarter of the year. Out of that number, 1, 309 civilians, 211 soldiers and 90 police officers were killed in the first quarter of 2021, while 1, 772 civilians, 153 soldiers and 133 police officers were killed in the second quarter. In the third quarter of 2021, 1, 153 civilians, 105 soldiers and 67 police officers were killed, while 972 civilians, 35 soldiers and 40 police officers were killed in the last quarter of the year.
The SBM intelligence report also said between March 2020 and August of 2021, no fewer than 1, 409 students were abducted from their schools with at least N220 million paid as ransom. The report also said 17 teachers were kidnapped, especially in the northern part of the country within the period.
The report said 2, 371 people were abducted in Nigeria between January and June of 2021 with N10 billion demanded as ransom. It indicated that an average of 13 persons were abducted daily in the country within the period across the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Niger State recorded the highest number of abducted persons with 643 in 28 cases, while 58 people were killed during the abductions.
Zamfara State came second with 519 kidnap victims in seven incidents, leading to the deaths of 22 people and Kaduna State recorded 360 kidnap victims in 26 incidents, leading to the deaths of 41 persons. The most targets in the abductions that took place in the first half of 2021 were schools where hundreds of students were taken hostage in the North West.