The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that Nigeria recorded 25.35 million phone theft cases between May 2023 and April 2024.
This was the most common type of crime within the period under review, according to a report, the Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey.
The report explained that the number of crimes experienced by individuals in Nigeria was analysed over a period of time, stressing that the results show that theft of phones (25,354,417) was the most common crime experienced by individuals, followed by consumer fraud (12,107,210) and assault (8,453,258).
However, hijacking of cars (333,349) was the least crime experienced by individuals within the reference period.
Most phone theft cases, it also explained, occurred either at home or in a public place, and about 90 per cent of such cases were reported to the police.
Only about 11.7 per cent of the reported stolen phones were recovered within this period, despite the high rate of the incident being reported.
It said that about 90 per cent of phone thefts were reported to police, out of which 50 per cent of individuals expressed satisfaction with the police response, as 11.7 per cent of reported stolen phones were recovered.
About 17.97 million Nigerians, according to the report, experienced phone theft in one year, with about 16.9 million being male and the rest being female, pointing out that about four per cent of the affected Nigerians experienced repeated phone thefts.
On age group, the analysis showed that individuals aged between 45-54 years (7.1 per cent) were mostly affected, while 15-24 years (3.4 per cent) were least affected.
The North-West region, according to the report, had the highest incidence of crime, with 14.4 million cases reported, followed by the North-Central region with 8.8 million incidents, while the South-East region reported the least crime, with 6.18 million incidents.
