NIGERIA: 25 Million Phones Stolen In 12 Months

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that over 25 million phones were stolen in Nigeria between March 2023 and April 2024.

The NBS report tiled ‘Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey 2024’ was released on Tuesday.

According to the report, 17,965,741 people reported theft of their phones. The survey also revealed that seven out of ten stolen phones were taken from homes or public places, making phone theft one of the most common crimes in the nation.

The report also showed that less than 10% of victims reported the incidents to the authorities and only 11.7% of people who reported the thefts were happy with the police response.

According to the poll, 21.4% of Nigerians said they have been the victims of crime, with 13.8% of the population being victims of phone theft.

Similarly, the NBS report faulted the Nigeria Police Force for unreported murder cases as actions were often not taken if reported without evidence.

The NBS said out of over 614,937 murder cases in the country in 2024, only 0.7 per cent of people reported the cases to the police, with a greater percentage preferring to report to other agencies, while others decided to solve the matter on their own.

It said, “Households provided different reasons for not reporting murder incidents to the police, amongst which 39.9 per cent reported that murder incidence involving their household were reported to other authorities, 27.5 per cent felt they had no evidence to present to the police or the police will not take action while 15.8 per cent did not report due to fear of reprisal.

“However, no household reported that murder case was resolved by family,” the statement revealed.