No fewer than 21 states of the federation have allocated about N133 billion to security votes, according to data contained in their quarterly budget performance reports for 2025, Saturday PUNCH can confirm.
The development comes amid renewed concerns over the unrelenting wave of killings, kidnappings, and destruction of properties across the country.
On Sunday night, gunmen killed six persons in a fresh assault on Ikn’gwakap community in Mushere Chiefdom, Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers, who stormed the village at midnight, shot sporadically and razed several homes.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Mushere Youth Movement, Kutyil Nahum, confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday.
Earlier this month, grief and outrage trailed the killing of at least 63 people, including five soldiers, during a Boko Haram raid on Darajamal, a resettled community in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
The terrorists were said to have invaded the community around 10 pm on a Friday night, riding motorcycles, opening fire on residents, and burning houses, shops, and vehicles.
Governor Babagana Zulum, who visited the scene the following day, described the massacre as ‘very sad’ and confirmed the casualty figures.
In August, at least 32 worshippers were killed when bandits attacked a mosque at Unguwan Mantau community in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State during dawn prayers.
Yet, despite these worsening security crises, analysis of second-quarter budget performance reports obtained from official state websites revealed that about 21 state governments collectively earmarked N132.73 billion for security votes.
The states include Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Imo, Kaduna, Adamawa, Kogi, Bauchi, Borno, Benue, Nasarawa and Sokoto.
Others are Lagos, Cross Rivers, Delta, Ondo, Taraba, Jigawa, Kwara, Abia and Bayelsa.
In the order of their level of commitments, Borno voted N32.8 billion, Benue, N15.6 billion; Ondo, N11.5 billion; Delta, N10.6 billion; Adamawa, N8.2 billion; Bauchi, N8 billion; and Zamfara, N8 billion.
Those with mild sums include Kano, N5 billion; Sokoto, N5.5 billion; Nasarawa, N4 billion; Katsina, N4.4 billion; Kogi, N4.3 billion; Bayelsa, N4.8 billion; and Cross Rivers, N3 billion.
The lowest allocations on the list are for Imo, N1.58 billion, Kaduna, N1.2 billion; Abia, N2 billion; Jigawa, N807 million; Lagos, 596 million; Taraba, N503.8 million; and Kwara, N350 million.
In Nigeria, security votes are special monthly allocations of public funds reserved by federal and state governments for security-related purposes.
Officially, the funds are intended to cover sensitive operations such as intelligence gathering, crisis response, and other emergencies that demand swift action without bureaucratic bottlenecks.
However, the secrecy surrounding their disbursement has long attracted criticism.
Analysts argue that, rather than enhancing public safety, security votes often double as political war chests or channels of personal enrichment for state governors.
In a recent article, PUNCH columnist, Lekan Sote, described the practice as ‘a statutory drainpipe’, a legacy of Nigeria’s military era.
According to him, the system was introduced under General Yakubu Gowon, who reportedly created the allocation to buy the loyalty of military governors, political elites, and traditional rulers amid a crisis of legitimacy and to fund the prosecution of the Civil War after Col. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s challenge to his authority.
Speaking to Saturday PUNCH, the National Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Jamilu Charanchi, questioned the essence of the controversial allocation.
He noted that despite huge sums reportedly disbursed, citizens in the North still faced worsening insecurity, dilapidated roads, failing hospitals, poor electricity supply, and lack of access to quality education.
‘What is a security vote? What are they doing with the security vote? Don’t we still have killings in the North? Don’t we still have bad roads, dilapidated structures and hospitals? Governments cannot provide health care services to their citizens.
‘They cannot provide education. They cannot provide road infrastructure. Electricity is questionable. What are they doing with the money? What are they doing with the security vote?’ he asked.
Charanchi stressed that poverty was at the root of insecurity in the region, alleging that governors benefit from the current state of affairs.
