President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presented the 2025 Budget of N49.7trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, 18th December 2024, with N4.91 trillion allocated to defence and security. Insecurity has been one of the major challenges Nigeria has had to face down the years, particularly with the emergence of terror groups, the latest being the Lakurawa sect.
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Despite military interventions and other measures put in place by successive administrations to tackle security challenges in the country; banditry, kidnapping and wanton destruction of lives and property have continued to pose a threat to the country’s unity and progress.
According to the latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, 17th December, 2024, Nigerians paid about N2.3 trillion as ransom to kidnappers between January and December, 2024. This amount surpassed the 2024 N1.647 trillion budgeted for the country’s Defence Headquarters.
The report further revealed that “Nationally, an estimated 51,887,032 crime incidences were experienced by households. The North-West with about 14,402,254 reported the highest incidences of crime at household level, followed by North-Central (8,771,400) while South-East (6,176,031) reported the least”. The report also showed that crime incidences in rural area were higher than the urban areas at 26,526,069 and 25,360,963 respectively, as the total ransom paid over the 12-month period represented 8.2% of Nigeria’s budget for 2024, which stood at N28.8 trillion.
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Nigeria is also confronted with sectoral attacks on workers at various lines of duty. For instance, Nigeria’s International Press Centre (IPC) documented 40 incidents of attack on journalists nationwide between January and September, 2024. Health workers have also been subjected to attacks, a case in line being the abduction of Dr. Ganiyat Popoola, a registrar in the Department of Ophthalmology at the National Eye Centre, Kaduna State, who later gained her freedom in October, 2024, after 10 months in captivity.
With the budgetary provision of N4.91 trillion for the country’s defence and security in 2025, Nigerians are optimistic of a better year in terms of security of lives and property. It is when the country is safe and secure that more local and foreign investments can be generated. Also, provisions for the development of the country’s agricultural sector will yield positive results, more importantly food production, when adequate measures are put in place to ensure the safety of farmers. Finally, security agencies should not compromise in the discharge of duties, as the safety of Nigerians is beyond any cultural or religious affiliations.
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