Photo Credit: The Sun Newspaper / SBM Intelligence (Illustrative image used in original publication)
Nigerians Paid N12bn Ransom in Recent Years as Kidnapping Becomes Terror Funding Pipeline – Report
Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis is no longer just a random crime – it has grown into a highly organized and profitable business that is now funding terror networks, a new report has revealed.

According to SBM Intelligence’s latest report titled “The Capture of Nigeria’s Kidnap Economy”, Nigerians have paid at least N12 billion in ransoms across recent reporting cycles, with the trend sharply worsening.

In its newest 12-month cycle covering July 2025 to June 2026, SBM found that:
• 7,825 people were abducted in 1,713 kidnapping incidents – a 66% increase in victims compared to the previous year. • At least 1,142 people were killed during those incidents.
The most alarming shift is in the money. Kidnappers demanded N22.86 billion in ransom during the period, and families actually paid N7.78 billion (about $5.8 million). That is more than triple the N2.56 billion paid in the previous cycle, even though total ransom demands dropped from N48 billion to N22.86 billion.

This means kidnappers are getting better at collecting. The collection rate jumped from 5.35% to 34%.

The report also reveals who is cashing out the most. While bandits and criminal gangs were responsible for the majority of abductions, they demanded about N13.5 billion but only collected N719 million (5.3% collection rate).

In contrast, a single faction of Boko Haram – Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) – accounted for about N7 billion, roughly 90% of all recorded ransom payments, from just eight high-value incidents

SBM Intelligence warned that the figures are conservative because many families never disclose ransom payments, which remain illegal in Nigeria, and that kidnapping has now become a self-sustaining “ransom economy.”
“For every ransom that is paid for a kidnapping incident, you are simply birthing another kidnapping incident,” – Kehinde Giwa, security analyst at SBM Intelligence.
Source: Original report by The Sun Newspaper Nigeria