Ransom: 9 out of every 10 naira paid to Boko Haram – report

By The Insight Team

Nine out of every 10 naira paid as ransom to kidnappers in Nigeria between July 2025 and June 2026 went to the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of Boko Haram and its allied cells, according to a report by SBM Intelligence.

The research group said the faction received N7.0015 billion out of the N7.779 billion paid in ransom nationwide during the period, representing 90 per cent of the total.

The findings are contained in SBM Intelligence’s report, The Capture of Nigeria’s Kidnap Economy, which analysed kidnapping incidents, ransom demands and payments across the country during the 12-month period.

“Attributing each ransom to the actor named in its reporting, the JAS faction and its allied cells account for N7.0 billion of the N7.779 billion paid around the country, a staggering 90% of all ransom collected in Nigeria this year, from just a handful of incidents,” SBM said.

The report said the Boko Haram faction obtained the N7 billion from only eight recorded incidents, underscoring the extent to which a small number of mass abductions dominated Nigeria’s ransom economy.

Two major abductions accounted for virtually the entire amount.

In April 2026, a faction reportedly led by Ali Ngulde abducted 416 people in Ngoshe, Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

According to SBM, the abductors demanded N5 billion and gave the victims’ families a 72-hour ultimatum. The full amount was eventually paid, making it the largest single ransom payment recorded in the research group’s annual series.

The N5 billion payment also marked the first time in the series that the highest ransom demanded in a single incident was the same as the highest amount actually paid.

SBM said the convergence indicated the growing leverage of the group, which was holding hundreds of hostages and willing to kill them.

The second major payment came from the November 2025 abduction of 315 pupils and staff of St Mary’s School, Papiri, Niger State.

The report said multiple intelligence sources put the ransom paid for their release at N2 billion.

Together, the two incidents generated N7 billion, accounting for almost the entire ransom paid to kidnappers across Nigeria during the period.

The figures also revealed a sharp disparity between ransom demands and actual payments by different kidnapping groups.

SBM said kidnappers demanded N22.856 billion during the year, compared with N48 billion in the preceding period. Despite the 52 per cent decline in demands, actual ransom payments rose from N2.56 billion to N7.779 billion.

The collection rate consequently rose from 5.35 per cent to 34 per cent.

JAS and its allied cells recorded a far higher collection rate than other kidnapping groups. The report said the faction demanded N9.205 billion but collected N7.0015 billion, representing 76.1 per cent of the amount demanded.

By contrast, bandits and unaffiliated kidnappers were responsible for 146 recorded incidents and demanded N13.492 billion. They received only N719.4 million, representing 5.3 per cent of their demands and 9.2 per cent of the national ransom total.

“Measured by what was demanded, the kidnap economy is a crime of the many. Measured by what was actually paid, it is dominated by a single terrorist organisation,” SBM said.

The report warned that the development had implications beyond the immediate financial losses suffered by victims because the money paid to Boko Haram could strengthen its insurgency.

“For a designated terrorist organisation to collect N7 billion in a single year is hardly the criminal-justice failure that it may appear to be,” the report said, describing the payments as a material transfer of resources to an insurgency.

SBM said the funds could be used to buy weapons, pay fighters and sustain the campaign that generates further abductions.

The wider figures showed that Nigeria’s kidnap crisis also intensified during the period.

The report recorded 7,825 abducted persons in 1,411 kidnapping incidents, representing a 66 per cent increase in the number of victims compared with the preceding year. At least 1,142 people were killed.

Mass abductions accounted for the overwhelming majority of victims. SBM recorded 396 mass-abduction incidents involving 6,222 people, meaning such incidents represented 28.1 per cent of recorded kidnapping cases but accounted for 79.5 per cent of all victims.

The North remained the epicentre of the crisis, accounting for 7,334, or 93.7 per cent, of the 7,825 victims recorded nationwide.

The Northwest recorded the highest number of kidnapping incidents, while Zamfara State recorded the highest number of victims, with 1,921 people abducted in 236 incidents.

SBM also found a significant disparity between the scale of kidnapping and security operations in some of the worst-affected states. Zamfara, despite recording the highest number of victims, had only four anti-kidnap operations during the period.

The report further documented the changing nature of ransom payments, with kidnappers demanding not only cash but also motorcycles, food, phones, fuel and other goods.

It also recorded cases in which people sent to deliver ransom payments were themselves abducted.

In at least six incidents, victims were reportedly killed even after ransom had been paid, highlighting the risks families face despite complying with abductors’ demands.

SBM Intelligence said the concentration of ransom payments in the hands of a designated terrorist organisation required Nigeria to approach kidnapping not merely as a conventional criminal problem but also as a source of insurgent financing.

The group called for measures to disrupt the financial flows sustaining the kidnap economy while also addressing the economic conditions that provide recruits for criminal and insurgent groups.

“Breaking this cycle demands two actions: disrupting the financial flows that now underwrite insurgency, and addressing the economic desperation that supplies its foot soldiers,” SBM said.

It warned that without a coordinated strategy to reduce both the profitability and underlying causes of kidnapping, Nigeria risked entrenching abduction as a funding mechanism for groups threatening the country’s security.