Kidnappers Demand Over ₦48 Billion Ransom in One Year, SBM Intelligence Reports

Nigeria’s kidnapping epidemic has reached alarming new levels, with kidnappers demanding more than ₦48 billion from victims and their families between July 2024 and June 2025. This is according to a new report by geopolitical research firm, SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, titled “Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry.”

The report, released this week, paints a grim picture of a country struggling to contain a well-entrenched criminal economy. While ransom demands soared to staggering amounts, the firm revealed that only ₦2.57 billion was actually paid to kidnappers during the period. In addition to the thousands abducted, at least 762 people were killed in 997 kidnapping-related incidents.

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Kidnapping as a Lucrative Industry

SBM’s findings suggest that kidnapping in Nigeria has moved far beyond opportunistic crimes, evolving into a lucrative and organized criminal enterprise. The report confirmed that 4,722 civilians were abducted in the one-year review period, with the northwest emerging as the most violent zone.

“Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis has evolved into a lucrative criminal enterprise, with ₦2.56 billion ($1.66 million) confirmed in ransom payments and 4,722 civilians abducted in just one year,” the report stated.

The southeast and south-south zones, the report added, have seen kidnappings increasingly tied to religious targeting and financial extortion, while the northwest and northcentral remain the epicenters of large-scale mass abductions.

SBM warned that unless security forces dismantle these networks and address root causes such as poverty, unemployment, and weak law enforcement, the cycle of abductions, ransom payments, and deaths would persist, leaving Nigerians in perpetual fear.

Rising Ransom Demands Amid Naira Devaluation

A major feature of the report was the correlation between ransom demands and Nigeria’s weakening currency.

While the naira amounts have grown sharply, the dollar equivalents have not kept pace. For example, in 2022, ₦653.7 million was paid in ransom—equivalent to $1.13 million at the time. By 2023, ransom payments dropped to ₦302 million ($387,179). In 2024, the figure rose again to ₦1.05 billion, but due to the currency’s devaluation, this amounted to only $655,000.

The latest figures, ₦2.56 billion ($1.66 million), reveal the same pattern: kidnappers are demanding more in naira terms to adjust for its reduced purchasing power.

According to SBM, this trend shows how kidnapping has transformed from a symptom of insecurity into a self-sustaining business model, with perpetrators setting ransom figures that reflect the country’s harsh economic realities.

Zamfara, Kaduna, and Katsina Worst Affected

The report provided a breakdown of kidnapping incidents by state, showing that the crisis is overwhelmingly concentrated in northern Nigeria.

Katsina recorded the highest number of kidnap-related incidents, with 131 cases—accounting for 13.1% of the national total. However, Zamfara had the highest number of victims, with 1,203 people abducted, representing 25.4% of all kidnapped persons nationwide. Kaduna followed closely with 123 incidents, further cementing the northwest’s position as Nigeria’s kidnapping hotbed.

Four of the top five worst-hit states—Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Niger—are in the northern region, while Delta State was the only southern state in the top five, with 49 incidents.

“This means that the most kidnap-infested state in the South accounts for a little less than 5% of the whole, making the kidnap crisis a predominantly northern issue,” SBM explained.

Eye-Watering Demands

The report highlighted one particularly shocking incident in Delta State, where kidnappers demanded ₦30 billion as ransom for the abduction of siblings Chidimma and Precious Enuma, along with their aunt, Anwuri Oko Ye, in Ebedei Ukwuole community on March 15, 2025.

This single demand represented 62.5% of all ransom requests made nationwide during the period under review.

Such audacious demands, SBM said, reflect a growing confidence among kidnappers that the state’s weakened security apparatus cannot stop them, even when their ransom figures border on the outrageous.

Breaking the Cycle

SBM’s report concluded with stark warnings about the future of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis. The firm stressed that breaking the cycle of abductions requires more than half-hearted measures, insisting that a mix of security, economic, and technological strategies must be deployed.

Key recommendations included:

• Disrupting financial networks: Using advanced tracing technologies to track ransom flows could choke off kidnappers’ profits.
• Boosting economic stability: Creating legitimate livelihood opportunities would reduce the recruitment pool for criminal groups.
• Strengthening law enforcement: Professionalising and adequately equipping security agencies would improve their capacity to respond to incidents.

“But without coordinated strategies targeting both the crime’s profitability and its socioeconomic drivers, Nigeria risks entrenching kidnapping as a grim national industry, one that perpetuates poverty, undermines recovery, and leaves citizens hostage to a failing system,” the report warned.

A Growing Threat

Kidnapping-for-ransom has plagued Nigeria for over a decade, but the latest SBM findings suggest the problem has now reached unprecedented levels. Once sporadic and localized, abductions are now systemic, spanning rural highways, schools, urban neighborhoods, and religious institutions.

For many families, ransom payments mean choosing between financial ruin and the safe return of loved ones. For communities, it means constant fear and a sense of abandonment by the state. And for Nigeria as a whole, it represents a growing threat to national security and social stability.

SBM was unequivocal in its conclusion: “The time for half-measures has passed. Only by dismantling the ransom economy can Nigeria begin reclaiming its security and its future.”