'Nigeria records 10 extra-judicial killings per week' - Nigeria records 10 extra-judicial killings per week, and 95% of such killings are unresolved, the local media Sunday quoted the non-governmental organisation Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) as saying.

LEDAP also said about 2,800 unlawful killings are recorded annually in Nigeria, with most of the killings carried out by criminal gangs.

'About 16 per cent are done by state agents and most of them are not resolved and perpetrators punished,' LEDAP National Coordinator Chino Obiagwu was quoted as saying.

He said most of the 420 extra-judicial killings, out of the 2,800 unlawful killings, are carried out by the police.

'For the police, they are usually shooting at roadblocks and killing of alleged armed robbery suspects,' Obiagwu said. He warned that unresolved killings would encourage future perpetrators, and that the increase in the rate of impunity was a sign that Nigeria was becoming a failed state.

Pana 06/11/2011