Nigeria’s worsening kidnapping crisis has become increasingly concentrated in the country’s northern region, with Zamfara, Sokoto and Borno States accounting for 3,970 victims between July 2025 and June 2026, a new report by SBM Intelligence has revealed.
The research organisation, in its August 2026 report titled The Capture of Nigeria’s Kidnap Economy, documented 7,825 people abducted in 1,713 kidnapping and related incidents during the period.
The figure represents a 66 per cent increase in the number of victims compared with the previous reporting cycle and underscores what SBM Intelligence described as a fundamental shift in the country’s kidnapping landscape.
At least 1,142 people were killed in kidnapping and related incidents during the period, including 895 civilians recorded as killed across the incidents documented in the report.
The research also revealed that Nigerians paid N7.78 billion in ransom to kidnappers during the year, even though total ransom demands declined from N48 billion in the preceding cycle to N22.9 billion.
According to the report, the amount actually paid more than tripled from N2.56 billion to N7.78 billion, pushing the ransom collection rate from 5.35 per cent to 34 per cent.
Zamfara bears the brunt
Zamfara emerged as the epicentre of the crisis, recording 1,921 victims in 236 incidents.
The state’s figures represented 16.74 per cent of all kidnapping incidents and 24.55 per cent of all victims recorded nationwide.
Zamfara also recorded 211 civilian deaths, three kidnappers killed and 10 security personnel killed.
But despite being the worst-hit state, only four anti-kidnap operations were recorded in Zamfara during the 12-month period.
SBM Intelligence described the disparity between the scale of the crisis and the recorded security operations as a “stark mismatch”.
The report said the low number of operations did not necessarily indicate an absence of effort, but reflected the overwhelming capacity of armed groups operating across the state’s vast rural terrain.
“By contrast, Zamfara, which leads the country in overall incidents, victims, and civilian deaths, recorded only four anti-kidnap operations all year,” it said.
The state also recorded 92 mass-abduction incidents involving 1,722 victims, the highest number recorded in any state.
SBM Intelligence said the development showed that mass abduction had become a dominant feature of Nigeria’s kidnapping economy.
The organisation attributed the situation partly to the large, sparsely populated areas of northern Nigeria, where armed groups can establish camps, move victims and operate beyond the effective reach of conventional security structures.
Sokoto, Borno follow
Sokoto ranked second nationally with 1,157 victims recorded across 179 incidents.
The state recorded 166 civilian deaths and four security-agent deaths, while 19 anti-kidnap operations were carried out.
Sokoto also recorded 76 mass-abduction incidents involving 974 victims.
It accounted for 108 of the 370 civilians killed in mass-abduction incidents nationwide.
Borno ranked third with 892 victims recorded in 55 incidents.
The state conducted 20 anti-kidnap operations and recorded 24 civilian deaths and 13 security-agent deaths.
No kidnapper deaths were recorded in Borno during the period.
However, the state accounted for the largest ransom payment documented in the report.
A sum of N5 billion was reportedly paid following the abduction of 416 people in Ngoshe.
Another N2 billion was paid for 315 pupils and staff abducted from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State.
The two incidents alone accounted for N7 billion, or almost 90 per cent of the N7.78 billion ransom paid nationwide.
Kaduna records highest number of kidnappers killed
Kaduna recorded 814 victims in 134 incidents, placing it fourth among the states with the highest number of victims.
The state conducted 24 anti-kidnap operations and recorded 130 civilian deaths.
Security forces killed 74 kidnappers in Kaduna, the highest number recorded among the states covered in the report.
No security-agent deaths were recorded.
Katsina recorded 559 victims in 187 incidents, the second-highest number of incidents after Zamfara.
The state conducted 25 anti-kidnap operations and recorded 101 civilian deaths, six security-agent deaths and one kidnapper killed.
The contrast between Zamfara and Katsina was particularly striking.
Although Katsina recorded 187 incidents, compared with Zamfara’s 236, the number of victims was substantially lower at 559 compared with Zamfara’s 1,921.
SBM Intelligence suggested that the difference could be partly explained by stronger state-backed community security structures in Katsina.
It cited the Katsina State Community Security Watch Corps, supported by conventional security agencies, as potentially more effective in resisting kidnappers than similar structures in Zamfara.
Other states affected
Niger State recorded 496 victims across 68 incidents.
The state conducted six anti-kidnap operations and recorded 54 civilian deaths.
The Papiri school abduction, involving 315 pupils and staff, accounted for N2 billion in ransom payments.
Kogi recorded 412 victims in 85 incidents, with 21 anti-kidnap operations.
Twenty civilians, 13 kidnappers and one security agent were killed.
Kwara recorded 265 victims in 89 incidents.
The state conducted five anti-kidnap operations, while 50 civilians, four kidnappers and 13 security agents were killed.
Despite its relatively lower victim count, Kwara recorded the highest ransom demand among the states highlighted in the report, at N7.375 billion.
Kebbi recorded 216 victims across 52 incidents, five anti-kidnap operations, 33 civilian deaths, one kidnapper killed and three security-agent deaths.
The state also experienced a resurgence in school abductions.
Benue recorded the lowest number of victims among the states listed, with 145 people abducted in 32 incidents.
However, it recorded the highest number of anti-kidnap operations, with 26.
Fifteen civilians and three kidnappers were killed in the state, while no security-agent death was recorded.
North accounts for 93.7% of victims
The geographical concentration of kidnapping was one of the strongest findings of the report.
The Northwest recorded 4,771 victims across 680 incidents, while the Northeast recorded 1,497 victims in 211 incidents.
The North-Central accounted for 1,066 victims across 309 incidents.
Together, the three northern zones recorded 7,334 victims, representing 93.7 per cent of the national total.
The South, by comparison, recorded 491 victims.
The Southwest accounted for 236 victims, the South-South 192 and the Southeast just 63.
The Northwest was also the country’s principal theatre for mass abductions, recording 267 of the 396 mass-kidnapping incidents documented nationwide.
That represents 67.4 per cent of all mass-abduction incidents.
Overall, mass abductions produced 6,222 victims, equivalent to 79.5 per cent of all people kidnapped during the period.
Kidnapping becomes a mass enterprise
The dominance of mass abductions represents one of the most significant changes identified by SBM Intelligence.
Rather than focusing predominantly on individual victims, criminal and terrorist groups are increasingly abducting dozens or hundreds of people in single operations.
Zamfara recorded 92 mass-abduction incidents, followed by Sokoto with 76.
The trend has also affected the education sector, with school abductions returning as a major security threat.
SBM Intelligence said the consequences extend beyond the immediate victims, disrupting education, farming, local economies and public confidence.
The report also warned that payment of ransom no longer guarantees the safety of captives.
At least six cases were documented in which victims were killed even after ransom had been paid.
In another 14 incidents, kidnappers demanded goods instead of cash, including motorcycles, phones, food and fuel.
The development, according to the report, indicates that kidnapping groups are adapting their operations to the financial realities of victims and their communities.
Boko Haram takes most of the money
While bandits and criminal gangs accounted for much of the kidnapping activity, SBM Intelligence found that a single terrorist organisation received the overwhelming share of the ransom actually paid.
The JAS faction of Boko Haram reportedly collected 90 per cent of all ransom paid during the period from only eight incidents.
The group demanded N9.2 billion and collected N7 billion, giving it a 76 per cent collection rate.
By comparison, the wider kidnap economy involving bandits and criminal gangs demanded N13.5 billion but collected only N719 million, representing a collection rate of 5.3 per cent.
The research firm said the distinction was important because it showed that the financial significance of kidnapping was not necessarily proportional to the number of incidents.
“Measured by what was demanded, the kidnap economy is a crime of the many. Measured by what was actually paid, it is dominated by a single terrorist organisation,” the report said.
Terrain, weak state presence fuel crisis
SBM Intelligence linked the severity of the crisis in northern Nigeria partly to geography.
Large forests, sparsely populated rural settlements and difficult terrain provide armed groups with places to hide, move captives and establish camps.
The organisation said some armed formations had become sufficiently powerful to hold territory and exercise forms of control in areas where state institutions were weak.
In some cases, abducted victims are reportedly taken to forest camps and forced to work in economic activities controlled by their captors, including farming and artisanal mining.
This, the report said, means kidnapping can generate both ransom and labour for armed groups.
South-South offers contrasting response
The report also drew attention to differences in security responses between regions.
It noted that the South-South recorded 50 anti-kidnap operations and 38 kidnappers killed despite having a comparatively modest number of kidnapping victims.
According to SBM Intelligence, the figures suggested that police commands, hunters and vigilante groups in the region could be more willing and able to conduct offensive operations than their counterparts in some of the North’s most affected areas.
The organisation nevertheless acknowledged that differences in geography, the strength of armed groups and security infrastructure influence the number and effectiveness of operations.
Call for financial disruption
SBM Intelligence argued that tackling Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis requires more than conventional security operations.
It called for measures aimed at disrupting the financial networks that enable armed groups to profit from kidnapping, alongside efforts to address the economic conditions that facilitate recruitment into criminal and terrorist organisations.
The research firm warned that the country risks allowing kidnapping to become permanently embedded in the national economy if the profitability of the crime and its underlying causes are not addressed simultaneously.
“Without a coordinated strategy that targets both the profitability of the crime and its roots, Nigeria risks entrenching kidnapping not merely as a criminal industry but as a funding mechanism for the very groups that most threaten its stability,” the report warned.
The findings present a troubling picture of Nigeria’s security challenge: kidnapping is becoming more concentrated, more organised and increasingly dependent on mass abductions, while terrorist groups appear capable of converting a relatively small number of incidents into substantial financial gains.
With Zamfara alone accounting for nearly one in four victims nationwide and the North responsible for almost 94 per cent of all abductions, the report suggests that defeating the kidnap economy will require a combination of sustained security operations, disruption of ransom-financing networks, stronger community protection and measures capable of restoring state authority in vulnerable rural areas.
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