An analysis shows that from 2015 to 2023, the Federal Government distributed a total of N14,063,279,559,996 to the various security agencies and their coordinating ministries.
The allocations could be found in the appropriation bills for the next eight years on the website of the Federal Budget Office.
The Ministry of Police Affairs received N4,956,267,942 in 2015; the Ministry of Interior received N156,220,022,460; the Ministry of Defence received N375,497,219,431; the Police Service Commission received N990,477,185; the police formations and commands received N321,622,224,611; and the Office of the National Security Adviser received N88,726,771,998.
Budgets totaling N980,705,292 were allocated for the PSC, N443,077,795,159 for the Ministry of Defence, N513,655,831,565 for the Ministry of Interior, and N21, 007,059,483 for the NSA in 2016.
The Ministry of Defence received N465,488,229,573 in budgetary support in 2017, along with N545,630,780,046 for the Interior, N110,490,229,417 for the NSA, and N1,967,172,630 for the PSC.
The PSC’s budget for 2018 was N1,472,026,629; the Ministry of Defense’s was N567,433,895,517; the Ministry of the Interior’s was N574,134,520,760; and the NSA’s was N121,730,943,684.
In the 2019 Appropriations Act, the NSA’s office received N120,712,711,220; the Ministry of Defence received N589,955,110,099; the Ministry of the Interior received N617,901,064,592; and the PSC received N1,751,274,031.
In terms of funding for 2020, the PSC had N1,369,586,675; the NSA had N144,326,228,206; the Ministry of Police Affairs had N410,532,262,631; the Ministry of the Interior had N253,493,565,095; and the Ministry of Defence had N900,770,634,390.
The budgets for the Ministries of Defence, Police Affairs, Interior, NSA, and PSC in 2021 were as follows: Ministry of Defence: N966,410,067,089; Ministry of Police Affairs: N455,134,536,905; PSC: N1,647,175,806.
N1,200,712,724,376 was budgeted for the Ministry of Defence in 2022, N559,106,745,837 for the Ministry of Police Affairs, N294,575,137,624 for the Ministry of the Interior, N1,158,657,748 for the PSC, and N214,708,002,009 for the NSA.
The Ministry of Police Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Security Agency, and the PSC will each receive a budgetary allocation of N813,912,057,660, N304,395,280,926 and N1,248,170,610,116, respectively, in 2023.
Despite the substantial budgetary allocations, the country’s level of insecurity has increased. While kidnapping for ransom also tainted the regime, many states have turned into killing fields.
No fewer than 80 people were kidnapped recently in Zamfara State by bandits.
On March 31, 2023, assailants struck the village of Garin Baka in Taraba State’s Ardo-Kola Local Government Area, killing 15.
On April 4, bandits abducted 32 people in Niger State, including 32 police officers.
On April 7, bandits attacked a camp for internally displaced people in Benue State, killing over 40 of the displaced people.
No less than 50 people were killed in a similar attack that took place in the state’s Otukpo Local Government Area’s Umogidi village of Enetekpa Adoka district.
On April 17, 2023, 33 people were killed at Ruji in Kaduna.
The most recent was the Plateau crisis, during which 125 bodies were found and mass graves were dug.
The Defence Headquarters attributed the inability of the troops to stop some of the attacks in the region to the size of some regions in the northern parts of the country as well as the lack of timely information from the populace.
The military high command noted that terrorists wouldn’t have a safe haven as long as the locals in these communities cooperated with the military.
Major General Musa Danmadami, Director of Defence Media Operations, spoke while taking questions from reporters at the military’s biweekly briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
He declared, “Since the area is so large, there are undoubtedly ungoverned areas inside those gaps. But as far as the military is concerned, I can assure you that as long as the general public cooperates and provides us with information, there is nowhere for these terrorists to hide. There is no hiding place for operations; as we previously informed you, they are taking place throughout the entire nation.
He called the Jos incident unfortunate and emphasised the need for timely information, saying that the troops would have little to no options after an attack.
