Nigerian farmers pay N1.19bn ransoms to bandits in 4 years

…As insecurity prevails

Farmers in Nigeria paid over N1.19 billion as ransoms for their release from bandits between 2020 and 2024.

An analysis of various 2024 crisis reports released by the research firm, SBM Intelligence, shows that between 2020 and 2024, farmers in Nigeria’s insecurity hotspots States, paid over N1.19 billion for their release from bandits’ dens.

The SBM report noted that the FCT had the highest ransom demands, followed closely by Lagos and Kaduna States.

However, when comparing the geopolitical zones, the South-East had the highest ransom paid and collection rate overall, reflecting how kidnappers have continued to demand in-kind payments from victims’ families.

“That farmers had to pay N1.19 billion to save their lives is huge. Very huge,” said Shakin Agbayewo, deputy chairman of Africa Farmers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter.

“If we cannot bring back safe farming, then whatever policy or ideas we have as a country is a sham”, he added.

Agbayewo noted that governmental bodies (State and Federal) should begin to recruit local security guards to secure farms in rural communities, stressing the need to look into creating alternative measures of security for farmers.

Read also: Women farmers demand action against violence to protect women farmers

“Whatever names the government wants to give local security, let them call them, but let them employ them. We need the services of local security that knows the in and out of our forest,” he said.

BusinessDay reports that the insurgency among the farming population which first started in 2019 under the guise of ‘unknown gunmen’, is fast becoming a trend in northern states like Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and many other major food-producing states in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s food insecurity is rapidly becoming an epidemic due to a combination of factors such as worsening security challenges, rising farmer-herder clashes, the impact of climate change, inadequate government responses and structural vulnerabilities within the Nigerian system, SBM said in one of its reports.

In its national agricultural sample census report, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that about 92% of farmers in Africa’s most populous nation rely on rainfall for their crops while only 27% can afford irrigation.

About 80% of farming in Nigeria is dominated by smallholder farmers who need more mechanised tools, access to high-yielding seedlings, fertilisers, and digitalised tools that aid farming processes.

The data by the NBS indicates that more farmers fall within the poverty index of 133 million people who are multidimensionally poor in Africa’s former biggest economy.

“I do not doubt those numbers, that’s if they are not more. The truth is this number might even be conservative,” Abiodun Olorundero, managing partners at Prasinos Farms, said on Friday.

“The government needs to do a lot more in protecting citizens, not just farmers, but also members of society and the state. The government needs to recruit local security personnel,” he added.

According to Olorundero, unfavourable economic challenges like unemployment, and rising food prices are fuelling insurgency in the country.

“The economy is getting tougher, and people are looking for ways to survive. Therefore, the government needs to do more,” he stressed.

In the last five years, internal security issues prevalent in the agric sector have pushed real growth in the sector below 2 percent, rapidly diminishing its huge potential.

For a sector that contributed 28.65% to overall GDP in the third quarter of 2024, and constantly contributes above 20% year-on-year, experts say the sector certainly has more to offer the country.

Data from one of the SBM 2024 reports, revealed that 3,277 people including farmers and residents were kidnapped between July 2023 and June 2024, 125 were killed in the same period, and 24 security personnel were murdered.

Also, of the N10.9 billion demanded from bandits in the period, farmers were able to pay N1.05 billion, indicating that kidnappers have become more targeted in their attacks.

Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Abuja, and Sokoto led the list of states with the highest kidnap rate in the review period, with 132, 119, 111, 70, and 67, respectively.