Hackers have gained control of the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

NBS confirmed the development on Wednesday in a post published on X, asking members of the public to ignore any report published on its website until it recovers the website.

“This is to inform the public that the NBS Website has been hacked and we are working to recover it. Please disregard any message or report posted until the website is fully restored. Thank you,” the agency posted on X.

The incident comes barely 24 hours after the NBS published its crime experience and security perception survey report.

According to the report, the NBS disclosed that Nigerians paid N2.23 trillion as ransom in one year between May 2023 and April 2024.

NBS also indicated that an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households during the period.

The report said the north-west recorded the highest crime incidents estimated to be over 14 million, while the south-east has the least with over six million cases.

The NBS report also shows that the crime incidence in the rural area (26,526,069) was higher than that of the urban area (25,360,963).