The economics of Nigeria’s kidnap industry
Insecurity in Nigeria has risen sharply in the last few years. In every region of the country, there are at least two major security crises, and we have reached a point where the Nigerian military was, as of December 2019, deployed on policing duties in every state of the country bar Kebbi and the FCT. In all of these, the spate of kidnapping is a feature in all parts of the country. Kidnap for ransom is a lucrative business in Nigeria as the case of Chukwudi Dumee Onuamadike, better known as “Evans‘, as well as Hamisu Bala Wadume who operated out of the North East until he was arrested in 2019...
Election violence in numbers
Elections casualties by state...
Mounting election violence
SBM Intelligence has been curating incidents of election-related violence in which fatalities have occurred from October 2018 to date. For the incidents to qualify, they must have been as a direct result of electoral activities, including campaigning, rallies, intra/inter party incidents, clashes with security agencies and violence in which there is a link with electioneering activities. In the period under review (14 October, 2018 to 20 February, 2019), we have curated 67 distinct Incidents, bringing the average occurrence to 2 every 3 days...
Refugees in crisis – A look into the state of IDP camps
Globally, only eight countries host a higher number of displaced persons than Nigeria. The five-year Boko Haram insurgency has led to the creation of the worst humanitarian crisis to occur within Nigeria’s borders since the civil war. According to a 2015 report by the Internal Displaced Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council, Nigeria has 2,152,000 million persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency...
How can we salvage Nigeria’s deteriorating security situation?
The primary function of the Nigerian military as per the constitution of the country as well as global best practice is to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and protect the country from foreign threats. In carrying out this mandate, the Nigerian military has done exceptionally well. Nigeria’s territory since independence has not been lost by military action of a foreign or domestic aggressor. In the recent case where Boko Haram claimed parts of Nigerian territory as part of its caliphate, the military has since reclaimed the territory...