By Tony Okafor
Nigeria’s worsening security crisis has again exposed the disconnect between public spending and public safety. While citizens live in fear of kidnappers, bandits and armed robbers, state governments continue to appropriate staggering sums under the vague heading of “security votes” with little or no accountability.
An analysis of approved state budgets shows that between 2023 and 2025, states earmarked a combined N525.23 billion for security votes and related operations. The figures, extracted from budget documents on Open States, a BudgIT-backed platform, reveal the enormous resources committed to tackling insecurity.
Yet Nigerians have seen little evidence that the funds are translating into safer communities.
From the North-West, where banditry has displaced entire communities, to the North-Central, where farmers can no longer access their farmlands, and the South-East, where violent attacks and kidnappings have become frequent, insecurity remains a defining feature of national life.
Particularly alarming is the recent situation in parts of the South-West, where criminal gangs have repeatedly abducted school children, students and travellers. Parents now send children to school with apprehension. Commuters embark on journeys unsure they will arrive safely. Rural communities increasingly live at the mercy of kidnappers who have turned ransom-taking into a lucrative enterprise.
The question therefore remains: What exactly are security votes achieving?
Although protecting lives and property is primarily a federal responsibility, governors routinely justify security votes as essential interventions to complement federal efforts.
What cannot continue, however, is the culture of secrecy around these expenditures.
Security votes have become one of the least transparent aspects of governance in Nigeria. Unlike other public expenditures subjected to procurement, legislative scrutiny and audit, security votes are treated as discretionary funds beyond public examination. Citizens are expected to trust that the money is being spent properly while insecurity escalates.
That arrangement is no longer acceptable in a democracy.
Public funds belong to the people, not to office holders. Every kobo from the national treasury must be subject to reasonable oversight.
The argument that security requires absolute secrecy cannot justify a blanket exemption from financial scrutiny. Many democracies maintain robust security budgets while ensuring institutions verify how public funds are spent.
The time has come for a national conversation on the future of security votes. Governors must provide transparent, verifiable accounts of how these funds are used and what measurable outcomes they produce. If they cannot, the system should be reformed or abolished.
Nigeria cannot keep spending hundreds of billions on security interventions while citizens remain vulnerable to kidnapping, banditry and violent crime. The present arrangement has failed the test of public confidence.
Security votes should no longer be treated as a sacred cow or holy communion reserved for a privileged few. They are drawn from the common patrimony of Nigerians and must be subjected to the same principles of accountability, transparency and value for money that govern every other public expenditure.
In a country grappling with economic hardship, rising poverty and persistent insecurity, citizens deserve answers where public money is involved.
Ubi jus ibi remedium – Where there is a right, there is a remedy.
