A new six-year investigation by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, ORFA, 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 on Tuesday in a report titled:”Four Times Boko Haram? How the World Misreads Nigeria’s Violence” and confirmed in a statement signed by Frans Vierhout, a Senior Research Analyst of the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa.
According to the report, the scale of the violence averages out to “an average of seven attacks per day” and “an average of 36 people each day.”
“79,323 people were killed in Nigeria between 2020-2025 – 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 civilians; Security Forces and Terror Groups make up 37,290 deaths.”
