No fewer than 78,148 Nigerians were killed across the country in the last 10 years, a security report says.

A yearly breakdown of the killings according to a 2023 Nigeria Security Report by Beacon Consulting; a security risk management and intelligence consulting company, revealed that 11,389 Nigerians were killed in 2014; 11,119 in 2015; 4,896 in 2016; 4,949 in 2017; 6,162 in 2018; 5,948 in 2019; 8,459 in 2020; 10,887 in 2021; 10,754 in 2022; and 3,585 in 2023.

Of the figure, 16,644 Nigerians were killed by terrorism; 8,475 Nigerians by banditry; 1,897 by farmers/herders clashes; and 1,410 Nigerians by social upheaval.

The report also revealed that in the eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari, budgetary spending on security increased from N900bn to N2.3tn.

It added that the increased budgetary allocation resulted in an enhanced equipment repository for armed forces and other security agencies as well as the recruitment of personnel, and improved training.

The report added, “The above achievements were not successful in reducing the fatalities and abductions caused by the several threat elements within the Nigerian security eco-space. In 2022, over 11,000 Nigerians died as a result of these security dynamics.”

The CEO, Beacon Consulting, Kabir Adamu, advised that the interface between the various determinants and the causative elements for the fatalities should provide the new administration with a basis for putting forward a more effective and efficient approach to addressing insecurity in the country.

Adamu said, “To achieve this, the new administration’s seven-point agenda as listed in its ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto will have to be expanded to include a review of the national security structure, which is currently convoluted and does not allow coordination, collaboration and cooperation among the various security ministries, departments and agencies.”

He said the new administration should ensure the appointment of professionals in the key offices of the NSA and the Ministries of Defence and Interior, while ensuring that the various policing agencies were harmonised with the Ministry of Interior to ensure improved coordination.

Punch