Insecurity: 47,000 people died in the North before Tinubu assumed office - Ribadu

Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), has disclosed that insecurity claimed no fewer than 47,000 lives in Northern Nigerian alone before President Bola Tinubu assumed power in May 2023.

The NSA made this known while speaking at the 50th anniversary dinner of the Nigerian Defence Academy’s 18th Regular Course in Abuja on the night of Friday, July 4, 2025.

He said that before Tinubu came on board, the country was on the brink of collapse, grappling with multiple crises that threatened its cohesion and survival at the time.

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Ribadu described the inherited security situation as a “sobering reality,” listing the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and North-Central, separatist agitations in the South-East, economic sabotage in the Niger Delta, and communal conflicts in states like Benue and Plateau as the five major threats the administration met.

“The security landscape we inherited as a government in 2023 was a sobering reality. It was threatening the very cohesion, stability, and integrity of our Nigerian state. We inherited five intractable security challenges that had brought our nation to the brink,” he said.

Ribadu gives casualty figures

Giving the breakdown of casualties per security threat, the NSA said the Boko Haram insurgency alone accounted for over 35,000 deaths in the North-East, in addition to the displacement of millions and the destruction of entire communities.

He said banditry in the North-West and North-Central regions had claimed more than 12,000 lives, displaced one million people, and forced another one million children out of school as of October 2021.

In 2022 alone, he said that 1,192 Nigerians were killed and 3,348 others kidnapped.

“The year 2022 witnessed high profile attacks that shook the nation. The Kaduna train attack, the assault on the Guards Brigade here in Abuja and the Owo Catholic Church all occurred in 2022 just before we came,” he added.

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Ribadu further recalled that separatist agitations had peaked in the South-East within the same period.

“Attacks by the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, resulted in the destruction of 164 police stations, killing 128 policemen, injuring 144, and carrying out three prison breaks, one of which freed 1,841 inmates,” he stated.