NBS Deletes Kidnapping Report on X, Claims Its Website Was Hacked

Neusroom’s investigation suggests that the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) might have deleted its post on X, formerly Twitter, that highlighted the results of its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report.

On December 17, the data agency released a report revealing that Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion as ransom in one year, between May 2023 and April 2024.

The report, which underscored Nigeria’s high level of insecurity and how kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative business, sparked widespread concern among Nigerians.

However, all traces of the report on the official X handle of NBS have disappeared, raising suspicions that the agency may be attempting to suppress the dissemination of the data. Additionally, 24 hours after the report’s release, NBS announced that its website had been hacked.

“This is to inform the public that the NBS Website has been hacked, and we are working to recover it. Please disregard any message or report posted until the website is fully restored,” NBS stated on December 18.

Neusroom was unable to access the website at the time of writing this report.

The Report

Titled Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey, the NBS report revealed that between May 2023 and April 2024, 600,000 Nigerians were killed, and 2.2 million others were abducted nationwide. Of the 2.2 million kidnap victims, 65 percent paid ransom, totaling over N2.23 trillion.

“Among households that experienced kidnapping incidents, 65.0 percent paid a ransom. The average amount paid as ransom was N2,670,693, with an estimated total ransom of N2,231,772,563,507 paid within the reference period,” NBS stated.

In the regional breakdown of ransom payments, the report showed that the Northwest, which recorded the highest incidences of household crime, paid the most ransom at N1.17 trillion. This was followed by the North-central region, where residents paid N469.74 billion within the same period.

Other regions reported the following figures: Southwest (N248.78 billion), Northeast (N166.14 billion), South-south (N90.05 billion), and Southeast (N85.44 billion).

Reactions

After the report’s release, the Presidency commended the effort, stating it aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s goal of “reporting issues within the polity that are data-backed.”

“With its administration goal of running an all-inclusive data-driven socio-economic agenda, the Tinubu administration, through the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has debuted with a concept tailored towards reporting issues within the polity that are data-backed,” Barr. Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Policy Communications to President Tinubu, said on December 18.

Less than eight hours later, at 8:32 PM WAT, NBS reported that its website had been hacked.

While Bwala’s statement remains on X, all posts by NBS related to the released data have been deleted. A link believed to lead to the report now displays the message, “Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else,” confirming the post’s deletion.

The claim of the website hack has elicited reactions among Nigerians, with many speculating that the hack might be an attempt by NBS to distance itself from the report.

While claims that the Department of State Services (DSS) invited the Statistician-General of the Federation, Adeniran Adeyemi, for questioning following the release of the ransom payment report have been refuted by Ichedi Sunday, Head of Communications at the NBS, the denial adds to the controversies that have characterised recent developments involving the NBS, from the release of the data to the website hack claim.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar described the claim as “suspicious.”

“The development, which is coming on the heels of the recent data published on the website of the @NBS_Nigeria on Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey (CESPS), underscores the credibility crisis of the current administration,” Atiku said in a statement.

He continued: “These are strange times in Nigeria, and it is hoped that the situation at hand is not an underhanded attempt to undermine the integrity of data used primarily for planning, development, and research purposes.

“Subjecting data and statistics such as those harvested, analyzed, and released by the NBS to tampering or political considerations is counterproductive.”

Also Read: How NBS’s controversial unemployment data is dividing experts

Since August last year, when NBS released a report using a new metric that drastically reduced Nigeria’s unemployment rate from 33.3 percent in Q4 2020 to 4.1 percent in Q1 2023, the agency has faced intense public scrutiny.

“That is why the claim that the website of the National Bureau of Statistics was hacked—the very first time in its history—should raise concerns about the credibility of the statistics it releases to the public,” Atiku added.