A new six-year investigation by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa has revealed that 79,323 people were killed in terrorism-related violence in Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, while 34,773 civilians were abducted during the period.
The findings were released to members of the public in Jos, Plateau State, on Tuesday in a report titled: “Four Times Boko Haram? How the World Misreads Nigeria’s Violence” and confirmed in a statement signed by a Senior Research Analyst of the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, Mr Frans Vierhout.
According to the report, the violence averaged seven attacks and 36 deaths per day over the six years.
“79,323 people were killed in Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, an average of seven attacks per day. More than 42,000 were innocent civilians,” the statement said.
ORFA, which monitors the state of religious freedom, documents rights violations, and informs decision-makers through advocacy, stated that researchers “spent years cross-referencing attack patterns — and the data gathered overturns longstanding assumptions.”
The breakdown shows that “42,033 killings were of civilians; security forces and terror groups make up 37,290 deaths.”
The investigation challenges the perception that Boko Haram and ISWAP are the primary drivers of violence.
“Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) — the terror groups most blamed for violence — together carried out 12% of civilian killings: Boko Haram 8%, and ISWAP 4%,” the report stated.
It found that “Militias categorised as ‘Fulani Terror Groups’ killed 44% of all civilians — four times the killings of Boko Haram and ISWAP combined.”
In specific figures: “Fulani terror groups killed 44% of civilians (18,577); Boko Haram and ISWAP combined killed 12% (4,941).”
ORFA stressed the distinction between perpetrators and ethnicity, saying “ORFA is careful to distinguish between armed Fulani terror groups and the Fulani people as a whole, the vast majority of whom are not involved in violence.”
