No fewer than 586 Nigerians were killed while there were 369 cases of abductions across the country in August.This is according to the 2023 Nigeria Security Report by an Abuja-based security outfit, Beacon Intel.
According to the report, obtained by our correspondent on Thursday, the killings occurred in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory while abductions took place in 24 states.
The report stated that 41 Nigerians were killed via ambush; 256 killed by crossfire; 67 died during raids, while 118 Nigerians were killed by unknown factors.It also revealed that 89 persons were killed in individual attacks, while 15 Nigerians died in detention.
A breakdown of the recorded fatalities showed that 47.95 per cent occurred in the North-East (281 fatalities), 16.55 per cent occurred in the North Central (97 fatalities), 9.90 per cent in the North-West (58 fatalities), 8.87 per cent in the South-West (52 fatalities), 6.48 per cent in the South-East (38 fatalities), and 10.23 per cent in the South-South (60 fatalities).
In total, 76.40 per cent of the fatalities for August 2023 affected the northern half of Nigeria, the report said.
The document revealed that the top three states with the highest fatalities were Borno with 252 fatalities; Plateau with 31; and Niger with 26 fatalities.Furthermore, the report revealed that in August, 181 cases of abduction took place in the North-West; 70 in the North-East, 16 in the North Central and South-West, 31 in the South-South, and 11 in the South-East.
The Chief Executive Officer, Beacon Intel, and a security expert, Kabir Adamu, urged the Federal and State Governments to address the root causes of the challenges “including weak state institutions, drug addiction, socio-economic grievances, poverty, unemployment and the effects of climate change as well as the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
“Additionally, there is a need for governments at the federal and state levels to halt the ability of the gunmen to move between locations and to block their supply chains for weapons and essentials including petroleum for their motorbikes and access to drugs.”
