Across the six geopolitical zones of the country, operatives are battling with challenges of insecurity, which constitutes threat to the peace and stability of the nation.
With cases of insurgency in the North-east, kidnapping/ banditry in the Northwest, and parts of Northcentral, which are also contending with herders/farmers conflict, which is also present in the Southeast, as well as oil theft in the South-south and parts of South-west, the military and other security agencies deploy human and material resources towards fighting these crimes.
This development, no doubt, takes a toll on the economy of the nation, as resources meant for infrastructural development, are channeled into procurement of equipment and other hardware, to fight crime and criminality.
Apart from the huge funds needed to fight insecurity, it suffices to say that a chunk of national resources is being spent daily for the welfare of an estimated 2 million internally displaced people, from the insurgency in the North East.
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Penultimate week, the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Gabriel Olonisakin, had disclosed that the military was conducting operations across the zones of the country.
“We have made significant progress in containing numerous security challenges that confront the nation in all the 6 geo-political zones of the country ranging from the terrorism/ insurgency in the NE, armed banditry kidnapping in the NW and NC to oil theft and associated criminalities in the SW, SE and 35. Indeed, the military is deployed in all the 6 geopolitical zones providing support to the Police, which is the main agency for Internal Security”, Olonisakin had stated.
Findings revealed that the Federal Government had undertaken a continuous increase in budgetary allocations to the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Defence.
For instance, while the 2018 budget stood at N9.1 trillion, the ministry of interior got N577bn while N576bn was allocated to the Ministry of Defence.
Clearly, the two security-related ministries had higher allocations than Ministry of Education (N542bn;) Health ( N356bn); Transportation, ( N267bn;) and Agriculture, (N203bn).
By this development, it is clear that critical sectors with direct impact on the economy, are made to suffer inadequate funding, owing to the urgent need to fight terrorism and other violent crimes threatening the sovereignty of Nigeria.
A public affairs analyst, who asked not to be named, identified “bad governance” as being at the centre of insecurity in the country.
According to him: “There is no denying the fact that much of what would have been voted towards human capital development, is being deployed to the security sector, to fight all manner of crimes besetting our country.
“I tell you something: no country expects meaningful economic growth, when the propensity of its citizens to consume, is higher than the propensity to save.
“Until there is good governance, occasioned by even distribution of resources, meaningful social intervention schemes and the like, poverty and other negative indicators may continue to stultify development in Nigeria,” he said.
