DESPITE THE EXORBITANT funding earmarked to tackle and address the teething issues of insecurity and defence in the 2024 fiscal year, report shows that Nigeria has been worse in solving these challenges, making it become a hotspot of terrorism attacks and mortality.
A recent report by the Global Terrorism Index, a think tank on Economics and Peace, showed that Nigeria ranked sixth in its 2025 report with a score of 7.658, a position much worse than its 2024 position. This is because it had been ranked eighth in the previous year.
According to the 2025 report released on March 5, there were 565 terrorism-related deaths in the nation in 2024, which is more than the number of deaths from the past two years.
Though global mortality from terrorism has drastically reduced by almost a third since the peak in 2015, with Iraq and Nigeria recording the largest decreases, Nigeria saw its highest number of deaths in 2014 (2,101), followed by the lowest number since 2011 (392 in 2022). In 2023, the number of fatalities rose by 34% to 533.
Sadly, in 2024, it again rose to 565. This happened despite the extensive financing of security and defence that was made available for last year’s budget.
The report went on to clarify that IS-Sahel has extended its operations outside the Liptako-Gourma region, which includes the borders of Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The organisation carried out several assaults in 2024 in some nations, including Burkina Faso (1 attack), Nigeria (16 attacks), Niger (12 attacks), and Mali (6 attacks).
Terrorism is still a serious worldwide menace, and 2024 will bring with it more changing trends and new difficulties.
For the first time in seven years, more countries’ security deteriorated than improved, with 45 reporting an increasing effect from terrorism, while only 34 observed gains.
The study showed that 51% of all terrorist-related deaths in 2024 occurred in the Sahel area, which has emerged as the worldwide epicentre of terrorism.
It revealed that Sahel is the home to five of the ten nations most affected by terrorism.
Although deaths and attacks dwindled by 21% and 57% in 2024, respectively, Burkina Faso remains the most impacted nation, which was responsible for one-fifth of all terrorist-related fatalities worldwide. That is not all, the country with the most rise in terrorism-related fatalities worldwide in 2024 was the Niger Republic.
Heavy Defence Expenditure but Lump Sum is Lavished on Staffing
In the 2024 fiscal year, the Security & Defence sector budget increased substantially when compared to the previous years. Ironically, that same year, Nigeria recorded 563 deaths from terrorism and banditry-related attacks, which worsened its global position among the most unsafe nations.
The Explainer noted that a total of N3.85 trillion, representing 13.38% of the budget, was allocated and appropriated for defence and security.
This sum shows a huge increase of 37.99% when compared to the N2.79 trillion allocated for the same course in 2023.
This amount is unevenly spread among the Ministry of Defence, the National Security Adviser, the Ministry of Police Affairs and the Ministry of Interior.
Analysis by The Explainer showed that of this amount, N1.6 trillion, representing 42.8% of the budget, was spent on defence. This includes budget for personnels, overhead and capital projects.
A breakdown analysis of the budget of the Ministry of Defence by The Explainer revealed that personnel expenditure took the lion’s share of the budget, with N1.1 trillion meant to cover costs such as salaries, wages, and benefits for employees.
That is not all, it also includes the allowances, pensions, gratuities, and other remunerations for every staff of all agencies under the Ministry of Defence.
Similarly, overhead expenditure which encompasses recurring operational costs like utility bills, office supplies, rent, maintenance and transportation expenses got N135 billion while the capital projects which includes long-term investment and purchase of essential warfare equipments got N339 billion, a meagre amount higher than the overhead spending like Electricity bills, fueling of official vehicles, or procurement of office materials.
Findings by The Explainer showed that the federal government in 2024 spent much more on salaries and wages rather than investing thoroughly in the nation’s fragile security infrastructure.
Like a siamese twin, the budget of the Ministry of police Affairs model that of the Ministry of Defence in distribution. Although the Police got N969.6 billion, a lump sum part of the budget was dedicated to cater for the salaries of police officers.
The budget document of the appropriated bill obtained from the Budget Office showed that N806 billion was set for the payment of police officers, while its running cost was N62.3 billion.
Unfortunately, The Explainer found out that N100.5 billion was set aside for capital projects and security infrastructure by the police. This amount is a little more than 10 percent of the money set aside for police salaries and arrears.
There is more: the National Security Adviser within the same period got N273.9 billion, but more than half of which was allocated to staff salaries. Personnel were showered with over N149 billion, while overhead and capital projects got N50.1 billion and N74.2 billion, respectively. This budget was made despite the terrorism crises and insecurity issues Nigeria is facing across its six geopolitical zones.
Similarly, of the N471 billion got by the Ministry of Interior last year, Personnel salaries cost N321 billion, leaving the overhead and capital projects to share the remaining paltry amount.
Though N41.2 billion was earmarked for overhead, the remaining N109 billion was allocated for capital infrastructure in the Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Fire Service and Civil Defence, Immigration and Prison Service Board.
Further analysis of security and defence budgets showed that the National Security Adviser received barely 7.5 percent of the total defence budget, while the Ministry of Interior followed suit with 12.5%.
Although the Police Force got 25.22%, the defence, which comprises the armed forces, smiled at the fattest allocation of about 42.8% of the entire budget on defence and security.
Furthermore, independent analysis by The Explainer showed that over 63.68% of the entire budget of defence and security for the 2024 fiscal year was earmarked for salaries, wages, social contributions, and pensions; 7.52% on overhead expenses, and 16.19% on hardware, infrastructure, and facility construction.
Security Experts decried that insecurity would persist in Nigeria and economic activities would struggle to thrive if a significant portion of the budget is not specifically allocated towards redefining and enhancing the Nigerian Police Force.
Matthew Ibadin explained that Defence and security are all-encompassing, but we need to restructure the Nigerian Police because internal security relies on the police.
“The police are the ones who are supposed to invite the military to come to their aid if need be, but in Nigeria, the military is doing the work of the police.
“This is the problem we are facing in Nigeria and the government should be able to revisit that problem,” he said.
Though the criminal activities of Boko Haram terrorists have drastically reduced, Oladele Fajana, an analyst with Complete Security, bemoaned to The Explainer that there is still a heavy impact of bandits and boko-haram in soft target areas.
Rather than for the federal government to spend a bogus amount on personnel expenditure, he explained that a commensurate amount should be budgeted for investment in capital projects. He further explained that corruption in the budgeting process of the ministries and agencies involved in defence and security should be critically audited while adding that the proper investment should be made in the purchase of critical defense infrastructures.
