Audu Bulama Bukarti, a human rights lawyer and barrister, has raised concerns about the crime report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on Wednesday.
According to the report, 614,937 Nigerians were killed, and 2,235,954 others were kidnapped across the country between May 2023 and April 2024.
Bukarti, who closely monitors insecurity in Nigeria, expressed doubts about the accuracy of these figures.
“Breaking down the numbers, the report suggests over 51,200 deaths and more than 186,300 kidnappings occurred each month.
This translates to more than 1,700 deaths and over 6,210 abductions every day,” he noted.
“These figures are highly implausible. While every human loss is a tragedy, the actual numbers are far lower than what the NBS claims.”
Bukarti called on the NBS to clarify how the data was collected and to issue a correction if there was an error.
He emphasized that accurate statistics are crucial for effectively addressing the insecurity plaguing the country.
