Nigeria's Defence Budget: Trillions Spent, Security Still Broken

On paper, Nigeria has never been more serious about its own security. Over the past fifteen years, the federal government has poured over ₦32 trillion into defence and security. The 2025 allocation alone reached ₦6.57trillion a record. Yet Nigerians are being kidnapped in record numbers, Boko Haram is resurging, American airstrikes are hitting targets on Nigerian soil, and a Senate committee is publicly lamenting that the defence budget is not even being implemented. The gap between what Nigeria spends on paper and what it delivers in practice has become one of the country's most damning, and most lethal, broken promises.

The Numbers: An Escalating Commitment
Nigeria's defence and security allocations have climbed steadily in recent years, from ₦2.41 trillion in 2022 and ₦2.9 trillion in 2023 to ₦3.85 trillion in 2024 and ₦6.57 trillion in 2025 before the ₦5.41 trillion proposed for 2026. The country continues to battle insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, violent attacks in the North-Central region, oil theft in the Niger Delta, and maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigeria has committed an estimated ₦32.88 trillion to defence over the past 15 years, representing about 12.5% of total government expenditure across that period. In dollar terms, that is roughly $44 billion more than the annual GDP of many African nations. And yet, by virtually every metric, the security situation has not improved. It has worsened.

How the 2026 Budget Is Structured
The Federal Government has earmarked a total of ₦3.154 trillion for the Ministry of Defence in the 2026 Appropriation Bill. Of the total allocation, ₦2.392 trillion is designated for personnel costs, highlighting the manpower-intensive nature of Nigeria's defence architecture. Capital expenditure accounts for ₦464.47 billion, while ₦297.03 billion is earmarked for overheads indicating that recurrent spending, salaries and allowances, dominates defence funding.

The Nigerian Army, the largest beneficiary, is allocated ₦1.504 trillion, with personnel costs forming the bulk of the spending to support its counter-insurgency, counter-banditry, and internal security operations nationwide. (Vanguard News) The Nigerian Navy receives ₦443.92 billion, and the Air Force ₦407.15 billion. The structure reveals a military designed primarily for ground engagement reflecting a country whose security threats remain largely domestic and land-based.

The Implementation Crisis: Only 7% Released for Equipment
Here is where the headline figures begin to fall apart. Despite record allocations, the actual disbursement of funds particularly for critical operational equipment has been alarmingly low.

Of the ₦20.56 billion budgeted by the Nigerian Army for the purchase of security equipment in 2025, only ₦1.46 billion, representing just 7.11%, was disbursed as of December 31, 2025. This gross underfunding has had a direct impact on the resurgence of non-state armed groups, according to security experts.

The Senate has taken notice. The Senate Committee on Defence expressed concern over the slow implementation of the 2025 defence budget, warning that delays in funding could undermine ongoing efforts to tackle insecurity. Committee Chairman Senator Ahmed Lawan stated bluntly: "You cannot postpone the implementation of the defence budget because that gives an edge to the enemy. We have to insist that our armed forces and other security agencies have their budgets implemented to secure the lives of Nigerians."

President Tinubu signed the ₦68.32 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill into law and extended the implementation of the 2025 budget to June 31, 2026 raising concerns about the government's continued struggle to fund its expenditures and Nigeria's mounting debts, which hit ₦159.28 trillion in December 2025.

Troops Unpaid, Barracks Neglected
The crisis is not only about equipment. It extends to the most basic welfare of the soldiers being asked to fight. The Minister of State for Defence made an extraordinary admission during the 2025 budget defence session. He called for the prioritization of the welfare of military personnel, revealing non-payment and accumulated bills of group life insurance for soldiers killed in action, and requesting an additional ₦20 billion for payment to families of deceased military personnel. He also highlighted the conditions of military barracks: "If you look at the budget of 2024, most of the barracks, the allocation made was zero. How do we expect the personnel of the military to perform while their living standard is inadequate?"

Corruption: The Elephant in the Room
Beyond slow disbursement, there is a deeper problem: what happens to the money that is actually released. Nigeria's defence and security sector is plagued with systemic corruption, a major hindrance to effective defence provision in a country facing serious security challenges. Corruption enmeshes ever-increasing defence sector expenditure and procurement activities.

Corruption risks remain deeply embedded across Nigeria's defence sector, underpinned by weak oversight from the Defence Committee and limited engagement by internal and external audit bodies. Financial scrutiny is particularly fragile, with significant gaps in defence spending transparency, secret expenditures, and military-owned enterprises. Although anti-bribery sanctions exist in law, enforcement is inconsistent.

A particularly alarming irregularity emerged in 2025. The Office of the National Security Adviser reported a capital budget utilization of 314.59%, having received ₦228.16 billion against an appropriation of ₦72.52 billion. The stark contrast with worsening security outcomes raises serious questions about the effectiveness and accountability of ONSA's spending. Spending over three times what was budgeted while security deteriorates is not a sign of efficiency it is a red flag.

According to the 2025 Government Defence Integrity Index, Nigeria remains at high to critical risk of defence corruption. Military operations recorded the lowest scores of any risk area in the assessment of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a regional average of just 12 out of 100.

The Security Outcomes: A Nation in Crisis
The consequences of this spending-without-delivery are written in blood. Over 2,266 people were killed by bandits or insurgents in the first half of 2025 alone, surpassing the total for all of 2024, according to figures released by Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission in July 2025. In September 2025, suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a village in Borno State, killing over 50 people, including five soldiers, and burning homes meant for returning displaced families.

A report by SBM Intelligence found that 2,938 people were kidnapped in the Northwest region between July 2024 and June 2025 over 60 percent of reported kidnapping incidents nationwide. Zamfara State recorded the highest number at 1,203 abductions, followed by Kaduna with 629, Katsina with 566, and Sokoto with 358.

Mass abductions sharply escalated across northern Nigeria in late 2025. In November, at least 402 people mostly schoolchildren were kidnapped across four states in the north-central region, surpassing the 2014 kidnapping of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram. In late January 2026, more than 160 worshippers were abducted, and on February 3, an armed group attacked two neighboring villages in Kwara State, killing over 160 people.

The situation deteriorated to a point where Nigeria's military required foreign intervention on its own soil. On December 25, 2025, U.S. Africa Command conducted airstrikes in Sokoto State against ISIS-affiliated targets. While Nigerian officials confirmed their involvement in the operation, the incident underscores a troubling reality: Nigeria's military, despite billions in defence spending, required American precision strike capabilities to hit targets within its own borders. The

Diagnosis: Money Alone Cannot Solve This
Analysts and international observers are increasingly clear-eyed about why spending has not translated into security.

Corruption and procurement inefficiencies mean that large funds are sometimes mismanaged or delayed, reducing operational effectiveness. Higher nominal spending does not automatically improve equipment, logistics, or morale sufficiently to neutralize threats. Non-military causes of insecurity poverty, unemployment, and social grievances continue to fuel conflict, and these are areas that defence budgets do not directly address.

Deficiencies in detection and prevention have enabled Boko Haram's factions to overrun more than 15 military outposts in 2025. Security force capacity is constrained partly due to limited use of technology for operational planning, surveillance, and reconnaissance, together with weak human intelligence.

Despite repeated government claims of progress, insecurity persists. These groups exploit weak state capacity, porous borders, socioeconomic deprivation, and deteriorating trust in government to entrench violence across many parts of the country.

Conclusion: A Budget That Has Become a Political Shield
Nigeria's defence budget has grown into something it was never meant to be: a substitute for accountability. Each year, larger figures are announced, commitments are made, and the public is reassured. Each year, the money disappears into a system riddled with corruption, inefficiency, and misaligned priorities while soldiers fight without equipment, their families go uncompensated, and communities across the north are left to face armed groups alone.

Nigeria's declining investment ranking sliding from 9th to 18th most viable destination for investment in Africa in just one year reflects directly the damage insecurity inflicts on the country's economic standing and its future. (Punch)
Until Nigeria fixes not just the size of its defence budget, but the transparency, accountability, and implementation of every naira within it, the billions will continue to flow and the bodies will continue to mount.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.
International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP
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