The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that Nigeria recorded 25.35 million cases of phone theft between May 2023 and April 2024.
This crime emerged as the most prevalent during the period under review, as revealed by the Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey.
The report examined the frequency of crimes experienced by individuals across the country, highlighting that phone theft (25,354,417 cases) was the most common. It was followed by incidents of consumer fraud (12,107,210 cases) and assault (8,453,258 cases). Conversely, car hijacking (333,349 cases) ranked as the least frequent crime during the same timeframe.
The survey further detailed that most phone thefts occurred either at home or in public spaces. Interestingly, about 90% of these incidents were reported to the police. Despite this high reporting rate, only 11.7% of stolen phones were successfully recovered. Of those who reported the thefts, half expressed satisfaction with the police response.
Approximately 17.97 million Nigerians fell victim to phone theft within the year, with 16.9 million being male and the remaining victims female. The report also noted that around 4% of affected individuals experienced repeated incidents of phone theft.
When analysing age demographics, the group most impacted were individuals aged 45–54, accounting for 7.1% of cases, while those aged 15–24 were the least affected, with 3.4% of cases.
Regionally, the North-West recorded the highest number of crimes, with 14.4 million cases, followed by the North-Central at 8.8 million. The South-East, on the other hand, reported the lowest number, with 6.18 million incidents.
