According to research by Nigeria Watch, 13,537 people died as a result of violence in Nigeria in 2021. This information found in Nigeria Watch’s Eleventh Annual Report on Deadly Violence in Nigeria, covers the time frame between January 1 and December 31, 2021.
What this means
The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA-Nigeria) is the host institution for the Nigeria Watch initiative. It is backed by the British Council’s Managing Conflict in Nigeria initiative, the IRD (Institut derecherche pour le développement, Paris), the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), and (MCN).
The research claims that 13,537 people died as a result of violence in Nigeria in 2021, with Borno State having the greatest death toll (1,853), followed by Zamfara (1,516), Kaduna (1,342), Niger (935), and Benue (625).
According to the report, the states of Gombe, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Adamawa, and Cross River had the fewest fatalities in 2021.
According to the research, Zamfara State was the most hazardous state in 2021 since there were 28.9 homicides and fatalities per 100,000 people there. The least violent states were Kano, Ekiti, and Gombe.
It was further said that from 5,446 fatalities brought about by crime in Nigeria in 2020 to 7,446 in 2021.
The surge in mass kidnapping, rural banditry, and cultism in several states were blamed for the rise. In 2021, 703 people died as a result of farmer-herdsman violence, up from 616 in 2020.
“In total, pastoral conflict fatalities were reported in 21 states. The most hit states were Ebonyi, Plateau, and Benue. In contrast, only a small number of occurrences involving such fights were noted in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Abia.
Criminal gangs were involved in occurrences that resulted in 7,117 fatalities, which was the largest death toll of any protagonist in 2021. Security personnel and ethnic-political organizations contributed to a number of incidents that resulted in 4,740 and 4,640 deaths, respectively, the report said.
According to the data, 1,877 people lost their lives in road accidents in 2021 compared to 1,464 in 2020, with Ogun recording the largest number of fatalities, followed by Bauchi and Kwara states.