The Department of State Services (DSS) has interrogated statistician-general of the federation, Adeniran Adeyemi, following the release of a controversial survey on crimes and security in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in a report titled “Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey 2024 released on Tuesday disclosed that Nigerians paid an estimated sum of N2.23trn as ransom to kidnappers between May 2023 and April 2024.
The report indicated that 65% of households affected by kidnapping incidents resorted to paying ransoms to secure the release of their relatives. On average, each household paid N2.67 million per incident.
The NBS survey revealed that an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households in the period of the study.
Many Nigerians have questioned the methodology and the integrity of the survey.
A UK based Nigerian security analyst Dr Audu Bulama Bukarti argued that the NBS figures are highly implausible.
“As someone who closely monitors insecurity in Nigeria, I believe these figures are inaccurate. Breaking down the numbers, the report suggests that over 51,200 Nigerians were killed and more than 186,300 kidnapped every month. This equates to over 1,700 deaths and more than 6,210 abductions every single day.
“These figures are highly implausible. While every human loss is a tragedy, the actual numbers are far lower than what the NBS claims. The agency must clarify how it arrived at these statistics or issue a correction if an error was made. Accurate data is essential for addressing insecurity effectively,” he said.
Authoritative sources told Business Day that the DSS is scrutinising the methodology and data used in the report, which claimed that ransom payments had reached alarming levels, sparking national and international reactions.
According to the sources, Statistician General was only invited for questioning which he honoured.
“The Statistician General wasn’t arrested. Although people in authority are not happy about the report, but claims that the SG was arrested is false.”
“He was only invited for questioning and was allowed to go that same yesterday,” another source said
A day after the report was released, the Bureau disclosed via its X account that its official website had been hacked and that it was working to restore it.
“The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) wishes to inform the public that its website has been compromised. Our team is actively working to resolve the issue and restore full functionality.
“We advise the public to disregard any messages or reports published on the website until further notice. Thank you for your understanding.”
