SBM Intelligence: Kidnappers Collected $5.8M in Ransoms as 7,825 Nigerians Abducted in a Year

Lagos-based security consultancy SBM Intelligence reported that 7,825 people were kidnapped in 1,713 incidents nationwide between July 2025 and June 2026 — a 66% jump from the prior year — with N7.78 billion ($5.8 million) paid in confirmed ransom, the ransom collection rate rising from 5.35% to 34% even as total demands fell from N48 billion to N22.9 billion. The Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of Boko Haram collected roughly 90% of all ransom money (N7.0015 billion from just 8 incidents), driven largely by two mass-abduction payouts: N5 billion for 416 people seized from Ngoshe, Borno State, and N2 billion for 315 pupils and staff from St Mary's School, Papiri, Niger State. Zamfara State alone recorded 236 incidents and 1,921 victims — nearly a quarter of the national total — and the North accounted for 93.7% of all abductions versus 6.3% in the South. Security analyst Kehinde Giwa warned that ransom payments to a US-designated terrorist organization fund further attacks: "For every ransom that is paid for a kidnapping incident, you are simply birthing another kidnapping incident."