Nigeria has been ranked sixth among countries most affected by terrorism in 2024.
In the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report released on Wednesday, Nigeria was named among Sahelian countries that accounted for 51 percent of global terrorism deaths last year.
GTI found that terrorism in the Sahel has increased significantly, with deaths rising nearly tenfold since 2009.
The GTI report by the Institute for Economics and Peace ranks 163 countries on a terrorism impact scale.
The indicators include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries, and hostages.
Nigeria lies in sub-Saharan Africa, but northern states like Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe, and Borno stretch into the belt of land that is known as the Sahel.
According to the index, Nigeria recorded 565 deaths from terrorist activity in 2024.
The report noted that while the number of attacks decreased by 37 percent, part of a wider positive trend noted in sub-Saharan Africa, fatalities still rose by six percent.
Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) were named as perpetrators in the country, with Yobe identified as a hotspot for violence.
The report cited weak governance, ethnic tensions, and ecological degradation as factors that have created a conducive environment for terrorism to persist.
Deaths in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding the Sahel) were reported to be at their lowest since 2016, dropping by 10 percent.
On the ongoing instability in the Sahel, the GTI named competition over the region’s mineral resources as a contributor.
“Gold is a major flashpoint in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Niger supplies more than 25% of European uranium,” the report said, noting that Russian presence has grown significantly in the region while France is withdrawing.
“Niger illustrates the fragility of progress in the region,” the report added.
“After achieving the second-largest improvement in 2022, it experienced a reversal in the last two years, recording a 94% increase in terrorism deaths to 930 fatalities in 2024, the largest surge globally.”
Globally, the most deaths from terrorism were recorded in Pakistan, Syria, and Burkina Faso, with the West African country responsible for one-fifth of all deaths globally.
In terms of perpetrators, the Islamic State (IS) remained the deadliest organisation, causing 1,805 deaths across 22 countries in 2024, one more than the prior year.
IS was most active in Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), GTI found.
Burkina Faso was named the most affected country, followed by Pakistan, Syria, Mali, and Niger.
Somalia, Israel, Afghanistan, and Cameroon trailed behind Nigeria.
LONE WOLF ATTACKS DOMINATE THE WEST
According to the GTI, the West saw its first major rise in terrorist incidents since 2017, with attacks increasing from 32 to 52.
Relatively peaceful countries like Sweden, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland registered their first attacks in more than five years.
Germany was Europe’s worst-performing nation, placing 27th globally following the Magdeburg Christmas market attack.
The majority of the attacks, the reports found, are now carried out by individuals without formal group affiliations, who radicalise through social media, gaming platforms, and encrypted messaging apps.
In the UK, under-18s accounted for 42 percent of 219 terror arrests last year, reflecting a broader Western trend where youths account for one in five terror suspects.
