Many victims who did not report robberies to the police in 2024 said they believed the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) would take no action. This was revealed in the 2024 Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
The report stated that about 2.8 million people were victims of robbery in Nigeria in 2024, but only 988,652 cases were reported to the police. Out of the about 1.8 million people who chose not to report to the police, many (about 374,679) believed the police would do nothing about it.
According to the report, 4.6% of victims, around 85,000 people, avoided reporting due to fear or distrust of the police. Additionally, 8.2%, or about 149,498 cases, went unreported because victims felt they lacked proof or believed the police were powerless to help.
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Among the cases reported to the police, less than half of the victims were satisfied with how their cases were handled. Only about 31.1%, representing 307,471 individuals, expressed satisfaction with the police response.
This lack of confidence in law enforcement is reflected in several stories reported by FIJ. In November for instance, Diaso Dike, an Abuja-based man, spent millions of naira trying to get the police to track criminals who had stolen his car and shot him. Despite his efforts, he ended up locating the attackers by himself.
Another case involved Emmanuel Atere, a student at the Federal University of Technology Akure, who accused police officers of breaking into his room, arresting him and extorting N25,000.
FIJ also reported that less than three weeks before Christmas, police officers had stolen millions of naira from citizens in various incidents.
In Lagos, a content creator, Braimoh Abdulmatin, shared how policemen abducted him, flogged him and extorted N119,000 from him. Similarly, FIJ reported how the police in Edo State said there was “nothing” they could do to help residents who were terrorised by cult-related killings in November.
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Residential streets were the most frequent locations for these crimes, with around 582,889 cases. Public transport was the second most common location, with about 385,745 incidents, while 322,888 robberies took place within victims’ homes.
In terms of stolen items, loose cash was the most frequently targeted item, affecting about 1.9 million victims. Cell phones were next, with an estimated 1.4 million cases, followed by handbags and wallets, stolen in around 921,633 incidents. Victims were often alone during these robberies in 973,864 cases.
The post REPORT: 374,679 Robbery Cases Went Unreported in 2024 Because ‘Police Won’t Do Anything’ appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.