Abductions drop by 28% In Aug as troops intensify operations

Cases of abductions reduced by 28 per cent across the country in the month of August, a recent report has shown.

The report by an Abuja-based security risk management and intelligence consulting company, Beacon Consulting, showed that there’s a significant reduction compared with the preceding month of July.

The August report attributed the development to the ongoing security forces’ operations.

The report, however, showed that 859 people were killed in the same period with Borno and Kaduna states topping the chart with 349 and 79 fatalities, respectively.

The report analysed by Daily Trust showed a 49 per cent increase in fatalities and an 18 per cent increase in the number of incidents compared with the previous month of July.

Though the report was not specific about the identities of the persons killed, there was increased military activities lately to counter the activities of armed groups such as Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, IPOB terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and other criminals. There were also reported cases of attacks on civilians and security forces by members of the armed groups.

The report indicated that there were 599 incidents across the country that resulted in 859 killings and 380 abductions, which affected 262 local government areas in 36 states.

The report titled, “Nigeria Security Report,” noted that the month of August was dominated by a visible increase in security forces’ action and the government claiming successes in the ongoing operations by security across the country.

“These claims reflected several interdictions and clearance security forces operations in FCT Abuja and the six geopolitical regions, as well as state-level measures by several regional and subnational entities.

“Other developments that dominated the monitored period included a continuation of social upheaval associated with organised labour and students’ union grievances with the government. These are in addition to the ongoing Russia – Ukraine war and the energy crisis, the supply chain disruptions, spiraling inflation, and the hike in commodity prices it triggered that have accentuated the structural deficiencies driving insecurity in Nigeria,” the report stated.

80% of incidents recorded in North

A breakdown of the incidents as contained in the report show that 80% of the fatalities in August affected the northern part of Nigeria, which recorded 49% of the incidents with the North East recording the highest fatalities (424).

Also, while 20% of the incidents occurred in the North West geopolitical region with 169 fatalities, 11% were recorded in North Central with 94 fatalities. Elsewhere, the South West recorded 4% of the incidents with 35 fatalities; 11% occurred in the South East with 98 fatalities while South-South recorded 5% of incidents with 39 fatalities.

A thematic analysis of the report shows that raids by non-state actors, targeting rural communities mainly were responsible for 314 (36.6%) of the fatalities; combat/crossfire was responsible for 246 (28.6%) fatalities, while ambush resulted in 181 (21.1%) fatalities.