“Perhaps the most depressing aspect of the survey was the discovery that most Nigerians lack confidence in law enforcement agents as many are of the belief that police intervention would not result in meaningful action.”
Further sign of the failing status of Nigeria as a nation state emerged yesterday as a report by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed the chronic lack of capacity of Nigeria to protect the life and property of its citizens.
Meanwhile, Sect 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria,as amended, declares that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.
According to the NBS report, Nigerians paid an estimated N2.3 trillion as ransom in 12 months to secure their freedom from kidnappers.
It was also revealed in the survey that households nationwide had an estimated 51,887,032 criminal incidents within the period under review.
Perhaps the most depressing aspect of the survey was the discovery that most Nigerians lack confidence in law enforcement agents as many are of the belief that police intervention would not result in meaningful action.
The federal government agency reports that these figures were realised from its 2024 Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS), and it underscores the dangerous rate and extreme financial burden which Nigerians have to bear just to ensure their personal safety in their own country.
The survey also revealed close correlation between poverty and violent crimes.
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For instance, it was discovered that, with roughly 14,402,254 households, the North-West, where poverty is most prevalent in Nigeria, reported the highest household crime rates, followed by the North-Central (8,771,400) and the South-East (6,176,031).
The survey also showed that these type of crimes were more prevalent in the rural than urban areas.
While the crime rate in the rural areas stood at 26,526,069 discovered that the figure for the urban area stood at 25,360,963 incidents.
“In Nigeria, 4,142,174 households experienced home robbery. Less than half (36.3%) of the households who were victims of home robbery reported their experience to the police,” it was stated in the report.
“At the individual level, 21.4 percent of Nigerians reported being victims of crime, and the most common crime was phone theft (13.8%).”
In the robust survey that covered wide ranging aspects of crime and criminality, it was also found that about 90 percent of the victims of phone thefts reported to the police, and only 50 percent of the victims expressed satisfaction with police responses.
“Nationwide, an estimated 1.4 million experienced sexual offences, which occurred mostly in someone else’s home (27.7%), followed by the victim’s home (22.2%).
“Sexual offences are less likely to occur at a public transport station (0.9%), and only 22.7 percent of victims reported to the police. Public perception on safety shows that 9.6 percent of Nigerians believed they might be a victim of crime in the next 12 months.”
