The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said in its ‘Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey 2024’ report that 25 million phone were stolen in Nigeria between March 2023 and April 2024.
According to the survey, an estimated 17,965,741 people had their phones stolen during the reference period.
The report also said 35.3% of phone theft cases happened in public places, while 35% happened in victims’ homes with a scant 11.7% of people who reported to the police expressing satisfaction with their response.
“Less than 10% of the victims of phone theft reported the case to the police, while over 90% failed to report to the police for various reasons.
“At the individual level, 21.4 per cent of Nigerians reported being victims of crime, and the most common crime was phone theft (13.8%),” the report stated.
The report attributed the increase in phone theft and other crimes to a lack of trust in the police, leading many victims to turn to local vigilante groups.
The survey found that 53% of households in the southeast and 50.4% in the north-central region contacted vigilantes first, compared to 26.3% in the southwest.
In both rural and urban areas, vigilantes were the first choice for 40.9% and 35.5% of households, respectively, instead of the police.
The report further stated that only 11.7 per cent of reported stolen phones were recovered.
