The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported over 25 million phone thefts between March 2023 and April 2024, according to its Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey 2024.
The NBS report, titled Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey 2024, indicated that an estimated 17,965,741 people had their phones stolen during the reference period.
Phone theft, which is a common individual crime in the country, shows that seven out of every 10 stolen phones happened at home or public places, with a mere 11.7% of people who reported to the police expressing satisfaction with their response.
Less than 10% of the victims of phone theft reported the case to the police, while over 90% failed to report to the police for various reasons.
“At the individual level, 21.4 per cent of Nigerians reported being victims of crime, and the most common crime was phone theft (13.8%),” the report read in part.
