Nigerians Paid N7.8bn Ransom In 2025 – Report

Kidnapped victims in Nigeria paid N7.78bn to non state actors/terrorists in one year according to report by SBM intelligence.

The revelation comes after several denials by government and security agencies that ransoms were paid to secure release of victims of mass abductions across the country.

The report said one group, the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of Boko Haram, collected 90% of all ransom paid from just eight incidents monitored.

The report, titled “The Capture of Nigeria’s Kidnap Economy”, found that of N7.779 billion ($5.78 million) paid in ransom nationwide during the period, the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of Boko Haram and its allied cells took N7.0015 billion from just eight recorded incidents.

“Attributing each ransom to the actor named in its reporting, the JAS faction and its allied cells account for N7.0 billion of the N7.779 billion paid around the country, a staggering 90% of all ransom collected in Nigeria this year, from just a handful of incidents,” the report stated.

According to the report, ransom demanded fell from N48 billion to N22.9 billion, yet the amount actually paid more than tripled, from N2.56 billion to N7.78 billion.

The collection rate jumped from 5.35% to 34%. This is not because kidnappers are getting better at negotiating. .

Two abductions drove the year’s total: the N5 billion ransom for 416 captives taken from Ngoshe, Borno, and the N2 billion paid for 315 pupils and staff abducted from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger. Between them, these accounted for N7 billion, almost the entire national ransom bill,”.

SBM Intelligence traced almost the entire national ransom bill to two mass abductions carried out months apart one in Borno State and another in Niger State.

In April 2026, a faction reportedly commanded by one Ali Ngulde abducted 416 people from Ngoshe in Gwoza, Borno State, issuing a 72-hour ultimatum for N5 billion. The report said the full amount was paid, the largest single ransom SBM has ever recorded.

Months earlier, in November 2025, gunmen abducted 315 pupils and staff from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State, in what the report called “one of the worst mass abductions in the country’s history.” Multiple intelligence sources cited in the report put the ransom paid at ₦2 billion.

“Together, these two incidents account for N7 billion and explain almost the entire national ransom bill,” the report said.

The report described the shift as a structural change in how Nigeria’s kidnap industry now functions, warning that a “designated terrorist organisation is no longer merely participating in the kidnap economy; in ransom terms, it is the kidnap economy.”

It drew a sharp contrast between the economics of ideologically-driven mass abduction and everyday criminal kidnapping. Bandits and unaffiliated kidnappers, the report found, demanded ₦13.492 billion across 146 cases but collected only 5.3% of it. JAS, meanwhile, demanded ₦9.205 billion and collected 76.1% of what it asked for.

“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.

“For a designated terrorist organisation to collect N7 billion in a single year is hardly the criminal-justice failure that it may appear to be, because, on the contrary, it is a material transfer of resources to an insurgency, one that buys weapons, pays fighters and sustains the very campaign that produces the next round of abductions,” It warned

The report noted that 2026 marked the first year in the life of the annual series that the highest amount demanded in a single incident and the highest amount actually paid were identical, the ₦5 billion Ngoshe ransom.

“In every prior year, a wide gulf separated the boldest demand from the largest settlement; and the fact that the two now coincide is the clearest possible signal of a counterparty with the leverage to be paid exactly what it asks,” the report said, attributing that leverage to a group “holding hundreds of hostages, and willing to kill.”

The report also flagged a break from the pattern of recent years, in which ransom sums in naira climbed while their dollar value stagnated due to currency devaluation.

In 2026, the naira strengthened even as the ransom total rose, meaning the dollar value of ransom paid, approximately $5.7 million, more than tripled from the previous cycle’s $1.66 million.

SBM Intelligence argued that the concentration of ransom proceeds in the hands of a single armed group changes the calculus for how the crisis should be addressed, calling for action to disrupt the financing rather than treat kidnapping purely as a policing problem.

“Breaking this cycle demands two actions: disrupting the financial flows that now underwrite insurgency, and addressing the economic desperation that supplies its foot soldiers,” the report concluded. “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.

According to the report said the geography remains unchanged.

“The Northwest leads in incidents, victims and deaths. Zamfara recorded 236 kidnapping incidents and 1,921 victims, nearly a quarter of the national total. The North accounts for 93.7% of all abducted persons, while the South’s share has shrunk to just 6.3%.

“Mass abduction is now the dominant mode. Four in five victims were taken in group seizures. Zamfara alone recorded 92 mass abductions, followed by Sokoto with 76. School abductions have resurged, with the Papiri attack reviving a tactic whose costs ripple through education, farming and public trust.

“Payment is no guarantee of survival. In at least six cases, victims were killed after ransom was paid. Ransom-bearers are increasingly being abducted themselves. And in 14 incidents, kidnappers demanded goods, motorcycles, phones, food and fuel, again showing an economy calibrating to the thin cash resources of its victims.The strategic implication is stark.

“The everyday kidnap economy — bandits and criminal gangs — demanded N13.5 billion but collected just N719 million, a 5.3% collection rate. JAS, by contrast, demanded N9.2 billion and collected N7 billion, a 76% rate. 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 organization,” the report added.