Reports revealed that at least 965 soldiers and policemen have died in the line of duty as a result of the escalation of violence in many parts of Nigeria, perpetrated by Boko Haram, bandits, activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other non-state actors in the last two years.
According to reports from Daily Trust Saturday, the various violent incidents related to killings of police and military personnel between January 2021 and April 2023 in which findings revealed that Nigeria’s security officials bore a significant brunt of killings by non-state actors.
News About Nigeria understands that the data metrics, which were exclusively gathered from reported incidents in newspapers, showed that 581 policemen and 384 military personnel died in the line of duty within the period under review.
Retired senior officers, however, said the incidents, though unfortunate, would not affect the morale of security forces, who are spread all over the country to maintain law and order.
Official records of lives lost were not released by the Nigerian Army and police headquarters as efforts to reach the army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, did not yield results.
However, records revealed that the NPF has approximately 371,800 officers across the country, with a ratio of one police officer to 540 citizens. This is lower than the United Nation’s recommended rate of one police officer to 450 people.
For the military, the World Bank database revealed that as at 2019, Nigeria had a military strength of 223,000 personnel. This figure, despite a significant loss of at least 384 personnel, was corroborated in February 2023 by Nigeria’s minister of defence, Bashir Magashi, during the 25th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard series to showcase his administration’s achievements.
A breakdown of the data mined by this newspaper showed that out of the 384 military personnel killed, 192 were killed by Boko Haram and other terrorists, 68 by gunmen and the IPOB, 62 by bandits and 62 by other criminal groups and circumstances.
Newspaper reports showed that from the 581 police officers killed, 344 were killed by gunmen and the IPOB, 119 were killed by bandits and kidnappers, while 53 were by armed robbers and other criminal groups. The data also showed that 32 police officers died in accidents while 18 were killed by colleagues and other security personnel and 15 by Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP).
Regions, states with high military, and police killings
Data from media reports collated by this newspaper revealed that men of the Nigerian military recorded heavier casualties in the North, especially North East and North West, where activities of Boko Haram and bandits are more prevalent. The police, on the other hand, suffered heavier casualties in the southern part of the country, especially the South East and South-South, where activities of IPOB and gunmen, a term loosely used to refer to attacks by suspected members of the Eastern Security Network, the armed group of IPOB are more prevalent.
The data revealed that out of the 384 military officers killed in the last 28 months, 82.6 percent of the killings came from the North while the remaining 17.4 percent came from the South.
On a region-by-region analysis, the North East claimed 178 soldiers, the North West, 90 and North Central, 49. The South East claimed 41 military deaths while the South-South had 24 and South West two.
The top five states with the highest military losses include Borno State, where 152 soldiers were killed in the last two years, followed by Kaduna State, where the military lost 35 soldiers, and Kebbi, where 23 soldiers were killed in the line of duty. In Niger State, 28 soldiers were killed, while 20 were killed in Anambra State. The five states combined make up 67 percent of military killings in the country.
The data from police killings revealed that out of 581 police lives lost in the last two years, 60 percent came from the South while the North has 40 percent. The data also showed that 305 of police killings were a result of an ambush by gunmen, with the South East and South-South recording 73.7 percent.
On a region-by-region analysis, the NPF lost 200 officers in the South East, 110 in the North West, 106 in the South-South and 85 men in the North Central. The police also lost 43 officers in the South West and 37 in the North East.
The five states with the highest number of police killings are Anambra, where 63 police officers lost their lives, followed by Imo, where 52 officers were killed, as well as Niger State, where 42 police officers were killed.
Others are Delta State, where 37 were killed and Ebonyi, where 35 police officers lost their lives. The five states make up 39.5 percent of police killings in the country.
