At least 465 people were killed and 355 others abducted across Nigeria in June, a new report by a civil society organisation, Connected Development (CODE), has revealed.
The report, “Inclusion and accountability for improved public governance”, was released on Wednesday in Abuja and focused on the country’s recent security incidents.
While presenting the report, the chief of research and policy at CODE, Ani Nwachukwu, said 2,000 people – mostly from rural communities – were displaced and 120 people had injuries of varied severity.
“We are asking the question, what is needed; more funds or accountability for safer communities? In June alone, a total of 465 persons lost their lives mainly to violent attacks; 355 persons were kidnapped and 120 persons sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Mr Nwachukwu said.
“About 2,000 persons suffered displacement from their homes.
“Over the years, Nigeria has increased military spending or defence budget to enhance its military power and improve security conditions but attacks are not subsiding accordingly, as recent trends have shown that security breakdowns are worsening despite huge budgetary provisions.
“As a leading civil society organization, CODE is using this macro analysis report to highlight the missing gaps of accountability within our security sector, especially as scarce resources are allocated to the detriment of critical sectors like education and health, without corresponding outcomes on peace and political stability.”
On his part, Hamzat Lawal, CODE’s chief executive officer (CEO), said his organisation has been holding the government to account for the past 10 years.
“For the past ten years, we have held public officials accountable and demanded that they keep their promises to their constituents by expediting timely interventions. Last year was no different,” he said.
“We tracked N1.167 billion worth of constituency projects in 30 communities across three senatorial zones of Kaduna.
“Across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, via ‘Follow the Money’, we assessed the readiness of 90 PHCs to receive, store and effectively administer vaccines with the purpose of equally driving quality standardisation of PHCs in Nigeria.”
PREMIUM TIMES had reported in July that non-state actors killed at least 65 police officers, 81 soldiers, two correctional service officials, two NDLEA officers, five officers of the NSCDC and two FRSC officials in the first half of this year (January-June).
The findings, which were based on data gathered from media reports, showed that there were thousands of fatalities in the first half of 2022, with about 3,000 deaths occurring in the first three months in the year, including the total of 157 killed security personnel.
