Amidst claims by Nigerian security agencies that they are being
underfunded, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today that a total
N4.62trillion has been allocated to the federal security sector in the
past five years.
How this huge sum was spent however remains unclear as there is no reliable performance report by the security agencies.
Year after year, the security sector continues to gulp the highest chunk of the country’s expenditures.
In the 2015 budget for instance, N934billion was allocated for the security sector, the highest for the year.
The
figures for 2011 and 2012 were N920billion and N924billion respectively
while N923billion each was thrown at the sector in 2013 and 2014.
Yet,
Nigeria continues to face attacks from the extremist Boko Haram group,
whose activities have claimed over 11,000 lives in last five years.
Kidnappings, crude oil theft, armed robbery and other sundry crimes are also widespread across the country.
The
heads of the country’s security agencies have repeatedly claimed
allocations to the sector were insufficient to equip the armed forces
and make them operationally efficient to deliver on their mandates.
Within
the period under review (2011- 2015), the Office of the National
Security Adviser got a capital allocation of N240billion while the
Defence Ministry got N206billion making the capital allocations to the
Office of the National Security Adviser higher than that allocated to
the entire Defence Ministry, which includes the Army, Navy and Airforce.
In
recent years, the Ministry of Defence has refused to make its spending
public, making it difficult to track the nation’s investment on the
military and allied agencies.
Anti-corruption activists believe the practice of concealing security spending is antithetical to probity and accountability.
“The
absence of disclosure, backed by law and practice effectively makes the
security sector the most prone to contract inflation and ineffective
service delivery,” said Seember Nyager, executive director of Public and
Private Development Centre.
“The high risk and probability of
contract inflation in itself fuels the (Boko Haram) insurgency because
no amount of resources would ever be sufficient to contain a system with
unchecked leaks.”
The Lead Partner at BudgIT, a transparency
advocacy group, Oluseun Onigbinde, added, “It is very important to
request accountability into these funds as Nigeria will need to ensure
that process of arms acquisition which is grossly hidden does not lead
to opportunity by public officials to acquire illicit wealth.”
The
infographics below presents a detailed overview of Nigeria’s budgetary
allocation to the security sector in the past five years.
SOURCE
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