Defence Budget and Military Spending on War Against Terror and Insecurity in Nigeria: Implications for State Politics, Economy, and National Security

Abstract

Sound financial management of a state's security sector remains the key to efficient and effective security forces capable of responding to the citizens' legitimate security. The huge budgetary allocations for defence or military in Nigeria annually remain higher than budgets of all other West African states' defence/military operations combined together in all ramifications. But one would be dismayed that with the usual bogus defence budgets in Nigeria, the attendant effects on her political and socio-economic stability coupled with peace and security still fall far below ebb. The study therefore examines the reasons insecurity still persists in Nigeria despite huge budgetary allocations to defence and military spending on war against terror and insecurity in the last one decade, and implications for state politics, economy and national security. The study employed a progressive theory of public expenditure while it relies on both primary and secondary sources of data. The study in its findings reveals that despite huge spending or expenditures on military operations within the years, the security of the state remains deteriorating as a result of bad governance, corruption and non-transparent procurement activities, poor leadership, and lack of defence strategies among others; thereby creating some loopholes in national politics, economy and weakened national security respectively. The security situation remains worsening; Boko haram attacks in the northeast, armed banditry in northwest, kidnapping in all parts of the country, militancy in Niger Delta and Biafran agitation for secession in the country. The study, therefore, recommends that Nigerian government should endeavour to: shun corruption; ensure good governance, transparent procurement processes; and adopting defence strategies in compliance with global best practices towards ensuring a stable and secured society.

Factors Affecting Transparency in the Management of Political Violence in Bauchi State, Nigeria

“…But without it, the term "good governance" is meaningless (Johnstone, 2006). Therefore, when a nation lacks good governance with opaque procurement practices, it will likely suffer from a high level of mismanagement, which will inevitably lead to political gaps and weakened national security (Abiodun et al, 2020). Despite the fact, it should be obvious that good governance is an ideal that is challenging to fully realize, very few nations and societies have come close to achieving good governance in its fully realized form (Sheng, n.d.).…”

Surmounting Nigeria’s Present Insecurity: Essentiality of Local Governments’ Political Communication

“…These insecurity happenings are prominent in the last decade and a half of Nigeria's Fourth Republic which commenced in 1999. For instance, Abiodun, Asaolu and Ndubuisi (2020) note that a United Nations' refugee agency assessment posits that insecurity accentuated by terrorism in Nigeria has resulted in over 2.5 million Nigerians becoming internally displaced persons in the last sixteen years. A UNHCR assessment (undated) holds that the terrorism-disposed insecurity in Nigeria has caused severe humanitarian crises with over 3.2 million uprooted from their aboriginal spaces, plus above 2.9 million individuals becoming internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North-Eastern Nigeria alone.…”

“…Borrowing Jinadu's (2005) syllogism, Nigeria's present insecurity condition is not fueled by deep-rooted ethnoreligious misapplications and squabbles, but overwhelmingly by deliberate alienation of LGPC in the solution-driven measures. In the last decade and half of Nigeria's socio-political history, insecurity is the dominant problem of nation-building, good governance, citizens' socio-economic betterment and state development generally of Nigeria (Abiodun, Asaolu & Ndubuisi, 2020;Adofu & Alhassan, 2018;. Therefore, interrogating the illegitimacy of security policies within the aforesaid time and space becomes imperative.…”

Macabre Dimensions of Crimes and Insecurity in Nigeria and the Imperatives of Community Policing

“…Also added to this is the unavailability of arms for crime detection, control, prevention and investigation; and even the scientific technique of investigation which remains a critical tool of modern policing is totally lacking in all ramifications. In another way, the Nigerian government has failed woefully to increase the budgetary allocations of security agencies for years and even if increased, the level of implementation is usually at low ebb, thereby damping the morale of the officers (Abiodun, Asaolu and Ndubuisi, 2020).…”

“…This has, however, given the Nigeria Police a poor public image; and that is one of the major reasons Nigerians are not even willing or ready to join or assist them in crime detection and control in the society. There was even a bad scenario during the recent #EndSARS# protest in Nigeria, nearly all the citizenry came down heavily on the officers, and this led to death of a large number in the Nigeria Police Force (Abiodun, Asaolu and Ndubuisi, 2020).…”