The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has said that 55,910 people have been killed in Nigeria in different crises across the six geopolitical regions of the country in the last four years.
ORFA also disclosed that 21,621 Nigerians have been abducted while there were 11,610 attacks that resulted in killing or abduction or both within the timeframe of 2020-2023.
According to the ORFA report published earlier in August this year, there was an average of 8 attacks per day involving killings and abductions over the four-year period.
Distribution
The report said a wave of killings and abductions was prevalent northern Nigeria, particularly in the Northcentral and Northwestern regions.
Northwest and Northeast regions recorded highest number of deaths with 18,635 and 18508 respectively while North central had 11974 deaths.
In the Southeast, there were 3251 which is the highest in the South followed by South-south with 1978 while the Southwest has the least deaths of 1564 in the four years.
The report noted that deaths include that of civilians, security forces and the members of the terror groups that usually carrying out the attacks.
According to the report, banditry, herder-farmer conflicts and insurgency in the North east were the major causes of the crises that led to the casualties.
The report also identifies religious leaning of the killings Southern Kaduna in the Northwest and Plateau State in the Northcentral as hotspots for the violence, with significant casualties in both regions.
For instance, in the Northcentral alone, there were 3,007 incidents of extreme violence, resulting in the deaths of 2,010 people, while 700 were kidnapped, and another 297 were both abducted and killed.
Farmer-Herder Conflict
This rise in violence is closely linked to the long-standing farmers-herders conflict in the region. The conflict, which is primarily driven by competition for land and resources, has worsened in recent years due to climate change, population growth, and the proliferation of weapons.
Historically, the herders—mainly Fulani pastoralists—have migrated southward from the North in search of grazing land, leading to violent clashes with predominantly agrarian communities in the Northcentral and Northwestern regions. These tensions have been compounded by ethnic and religious differences, further fueling the cycle of violence.
The report criticizes the Nigerian government’s security strategies, which have focused on deploying military resources to the Northwest and Northeast, leaving the Northcentral region vulnerable.
Responses to security breaches in the Northcentral are often coordinated from bases hundreds of kilometres away, hindering rapid intervention.
“Millions of people are left undefended,’ said Frans Vierhout, Senior Analyst at The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa.
He added, “For years, we’ve heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attack vulnerable communities. Now the data tells its own story.”
Ethnic and Religious Leanings
Perpetrators of these attacks, according to the report, include armed men often framed in ethnic and religious terms, accounting for 42 percent of the documented incidents.
Only about 10 percent of civilian casualties were attributed to extremist groups like ISIS or Al-Qaeda. The victims of these violent acts have been both Christians and Muslims, reflecting the indiscriminate nature of the killings.
Abductions have spiked over the past four years, with 1,665 people kidnapped in 2020, rising sharply to 5,907 in 2021, and peaking at 7,705 in 2022. Although the number of abductions dropped slightly to 6,255 in 2023, the figures remain disturbingly high.
The findings of this four-year study suggest the need for more localized security responses, stronger government intervention, and concerted efforts to address the root causes of the farmers-herders conflict, which continues to destabilize communities across the region.
