706 deaths, 302 abduction recorded in April – Report

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706 deaths, 302 abduction recorded in April – Report

A total of 706 deaths and 302 abductions were recorded in some parts of the country in April 2023, Sunday PUNCH learnt.

According to the 2023 Nigeria Security Report by Beacon Intel which was obtained by our correspondent on Saturday, these incidents affected 180 local government areas in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A total of 277 Nigerians were killed during raids; 168 were killed by unknown factors, while 126 were killed by individual attacks.

However, 110 died via crossfire; while 24 via ambush and one via detention.

A breakdown of the recorded fatalities showed 27.6% occurred in the North-Central geopolitical region (195 fatalities), 24.9% occurred in the North-West geopolitical region (176 fatalities), 20.7% in North-East (146 fatalities), South-West 12.0% (85 fatalities), South-East 8.2% (fatalities 58) and South-South 6.1% (46 fatalities).

The North constituted 73.2% of the total fatalities for April 2023.

The document revealed that the top three states with the highest fatalities were; Borno with 100 fatalities, Benue with 85 and Kaduna with 63. For abductions, 46.0% (139 abductions) were recorded in the North-Central, 41.7% (126 abductions) were recorded in the North West, South-South 4.6% (14 abductions), the South West with 4.3% (13 abductions), North-East and South-East had 1.7% (5 abductions).

The North constituted 89.4% of the total abductions for April 2023.

A comparison of the incidents that occurred in April 2022 and April 2023 showed a 20.4% decrease (480/382) in insecurity-related incidents generally. The North-East led in this with a recorded 70.2% decrease (151/45) in incidents. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in the South-South geopolitical zone with a 54.7% increase (42/65).

Other geopolitical regions recorded; an 11% increase (76/85) in the North-Central, a 24.7% decrease (73/55) in the North-West, a 25.6% decrease (43/32) in the South-East, and a 5.3% increase (95/100) in the South-West.

A security consultant, Oladele Fajana who previously spoke with The PUNCH, said security was everyone’s business, advising the government to invest more in the purchase of drones to help address insecurity.