Insecurity: 1,743 Nigerians killed in Q1 2022 — Niger, Zamfara top list of victims

April 20

10:36 2022

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One thousand, seven hundred and forty-three Nigerians were reported killed in the first quarter of 2022 owing to insecurity, according to the data sourced and analysed by TheCable Index, the data and research arm of TheCable.

This will give you a sore head: The figure surpasses the number of civilians reportedly killed in the first month of Russia-Ukraine war.

TheCable Index analysed and reviewed daily media reports published between January and March 2022 as well as data sourced from the Council on Foreign Relations.

From the data reviewed, TheCable Index found that an average of 19 Nigerians died daily in various violent attacks reported in the media from January to March 2022.

More so, 269 violent attacks were reported to have taken place in the country within the period under review and have been compiled here.

TheCable Index excluded the killings by security operatives and the death of suspected criminals like Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REVIEW

In the first quarter of 2022, 269 attacks were reported.
In the three months, 427 people were killed, with January having the highest number of fatalities at 841.
Most people died in Niger, Kaduna, and Zamfara — in that order.
Ekiti and Gombe had the fewest reported deaths with only one each.
Bauchi, Nasarawa, Adamawa and Yobe reported no violent attacks.
The states of Kaduna and Niger were targeted the most, with 31 and 28 attacks, respectively.
The south-south zone was the safest, whereas the north-west had the most deaths.

BAUCHI, NASARAWA, ADAMAWA, YOBE SAFEST STATES; NIGER, ZAMFARA, KADUNA ACCOUNTED FOR MOST DEATHS

TheCable discovered that Bauchi, Nasarawa, Adamawa and Yobe reported no violent attacks.

Ekiti and Gombe recorded one death each resulting from one attack respectively.

Niger had the highest number of reported deaths with 448 fatalities, followed by Zamfara with 327 and Kaduna with 259.

The following is a list of states and the number of deaths recorded in each:

S/N	STATE	NUMBER OF DEATHS
1	Abia	18
2	Akwa Ibom	8
3	Anambra	39
4	Bayelsa	7
5	Benue	56
6	Borno	62
7	Cross River	10
8	Delta	17
9	Ebonyi	11
10	Edo	15
11	Ekiti	1
12	Enugu	43
13	FCT	3
14	Gombe	1
15	Imo	20
16	Jigawa	3
17	Kaduna	259
18	Katsina	65
19	Kebbi	91
20	Kogi	3
21	Kwara	9
22	Lagos	14
23	Niger	448
24	Ogun	24
25	Ondo	19
26	Osun	22
27	Oyo	14
28	Plateau	39
29	Rivers	4
30	Sokoto	9
31	Taraba	82
32	Zamfara	327

SOUTH-SOUTH SAFEST ZONE; NORTH-WEST, NORTH-CENTRAL LEAD FATALITY TOLL

A review of the reported deaths in the first quarter in terms of geo-political zones shows that the south-south region had the least number of deaths with 61.

According to a breakdown of reported deaths in the first quarter by geopolitical zones, the south-south region had the fewest deaths —61.

The north-west region had the most reported deaths (754), followed by the north-central region (558), and the north-east region (145).

The table below shows the number of people killed in each of the six geopolitical zones:

S/N	ZONES	CASUALTY
1	North-west	754
2	North-east	145
3	North-central	558
4	South-south	61
5	South-east	131
6	South-west	94
	Total	1,743

MOST CASUALTIES WERE REPORTED IN JAN AND FEB

From the data analysed, January and February had the most reported deaths with 103 fatalities respectively. March had 63 deaths.

The monthly attacks and casualty figures are shown in the table below:

S/N	MONTH	FREQ OF ATTACKS	CASUALTY
1	January	103	841
2	February	103	475
3	March	63	427
	Total	269	1,743

KADUNA, NIGER, BENUE TOP LIST OF STATES WITH MOST REPORTED ATTACKS

From the reviewed data, Kaduna suffered the most attacks with 31 incidents. This was followed by Niger and Benue — 28 and 17 respectively.

Here is a full list of states and the frequency of attacks reported:

S/N	STATE	FREQ OF ATTACKS
1	Abia	5
2	Akwa Ibom	5
3	Anambra	12
4	Bayelsa	3
5	Benue	17
6	Borno	12
7	Cross River	2
8	Delta	11
9	Ebonyi	6
10	Edo	8
11	Ekiti	1
12	Enugu	10
13	FCT	3
14	Gombe	1
15	Imo	11
16	Jigawa	2
19	Kaduna	31
18	Katsina	11
19	Kebbi	4
20	Kogi	3
21	Kwara	4
22	Lagos	7
23	Niger	28
24	Ogun	10
25	Ondo	10
26	Osun	7
27	Oyo	8
28	Plateau	12
29	Rivers	4
30	Sokoto	3
31	Taraba	8
32	Zamfara	10

313 REPORTED KILLINGS IN APRIL SO FAR

TheCable Index also reviewed published news reports and found 313 people have so far been killed in April as a result of insecurity.

Below is the list of reported killings by states with the highest tolls:

Anambra – 12
Benue – 25
Borno – 3
Delta – 5
Ebonyi – 31
Edo – 5
Enugu – 6
FCT – 5
Imo – 1
Kaduna – 50
Katsina – 6
Kebbi – 2
Kwara – 1
Lagos – 3
Niger – 11
Ogun -1
Osun – 1
Plateau – 125
Rivers – 7
Taraba – 8
Zamfara – 4