Personal security is rapidly deteriorating in Nigeria. There is the Boko Haram insurrection in the northeast, unrest in the southern oil patch, and conflict over water and land in the middle of the country. Many of these challenges are long-standing. Adding to the list of security crises is a nationwide crime wave involving kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, and home invasions. Such crimes have long existed in one part of the country or another, but...

Nigerian army spokesmen have announced a series of successes against Boko Haram and that terrorism had been significantly weakened in the Lake Chad Basin. But such announcements lack credibility. According to the Nigeria Security Tracker, the last two years have been deadlier than any other period for Nigerian soldiers since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2011. On Tuesday, Boko Haram killed thirty-seven soldiers in a deadly ambush, though military spokesmen claimed only two soldiers were killed....