<p>Our findings reveal that rabies is grossly under-reported as only 998 human and 273 dog suspected rabies cases were reported across Nigeria between 2017 and 2022. Also we observed a paucity of information on rabies in both human and animal health sectors. A total of 49 studies on dog rabies in Nigeria, with a predominance of reports from the North Central geopolitical region (48%, n=23) were therefore included in this study. Currently, only 16.2% (n=6/37) of Nigerian states have available data related to the estimated dog populations, dog ownership rates, vaccination status of dogs or the incidence of dog bites. Based on a dog-to-human ratio of 1:16.3, we estimated that the dog population in Nigeria was 12,969,368 (95% CI: 12,320,900-13,617,836).</p>