spot_img

1.6m Vehicles Stolen in Nigeria in One Year, But Many Didn’t Report to Police – Report

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that a total of 1,587,363 cases of motor vehicle theft had been reported in 12 months in Nigeria.

The NBS, in a report title “Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024”, disclosed that the North West region has the highest cases of vehicle theft in the country with 603,756 cases between May 2023 and April 2024.

Related Posts

The report disclosed that 246,329 cases were recorded in the North Central while the North East recorded 228, 793 cases.

“Analysis by zones revealed that the North-West recorded the highest (603,756), followed by North-Central (246,329), while South-West had the least (140,144) motor vehicle theft. Further disaggregation by place of residence shows that rural areas had the highest with 887,002 while urban areas recorded the least with 700,361,” the report noted.

According to the NBS report, the North-West emerging as the most affected region at 5.5% prevalence, followed by the North-Central (3.2%). On the other hand, the South-West reported the lowest prevalence at 0.9%.

The report further noted that rural areas were significantly more affected (3.7%) than urban areas (2.1%), emphasizing the vulnerability of rural households to such crimes.

Despite the high incidence, the NBS noted that 57.6% of affected households reported theft to the police.

“The South-West (73.8%) and North-East (72.1%) showed the highest reporting rates, while the North-Central had the lowest at 47.7%. Urban households were more inclined to report theft (62.4%) than rural households (54.0%), the report noted.

However, the report said 59.7% of those who reported expressed satisfaction with the police response. “The North-East stood out with the highest satisfaction rate (75.4%), while the South-South recorded the lowest (42.4%).”

The data reveals that most thefts occur at home (36.0%), followed by streets in towns (23.3%) and residential streets (8.3%). It added “Incidents were more frequent at night before midnight (29.4%) and occurred more often on weekdays (53.3%) than weekends (46.7%).

Repeated victimization was rare, with 0.6% of households reporting multiple thefts, but rural areas saw a slightly higher repeat rate (0.8%) than urban areas (0.5%).

Send us tip

If you or someone you know has a lead, tip or personal experience about this report, our WhatsApp line is open and confidential for a conversation

Latest stories