Nigeria’s Security Spending Surges as 31 States Commit N252bn in Six Months

In the first half of 2026, at least 31 state governments in Nigeria allocated an estimated N252.26 billion to security efforts, addressing ongoing issues like killings, kidnappings, and banditry nationwide.

An evaluation of state fiscal performance reports from January to June 2026, sourced from Open Nigerian States—a BudgIT-supported platform with government budget data—revealed that Kogi, Plateau, and Bauchi states had the highest security-related expenses.

Kogi State led with N34.67 billion, accounting for 13.74% of the total recorded expenditure, followed by Plateau with N23.69 billion and Bauchi with N22.35 billion.

These expenses encompassed security equipment, homeland security personnel, security votes and operations, ministries of security and special advisers, as well as security trust funds.

Overall state spending rose considerably from N75.84 billion in 2025 to N252.26 billion in 2026, though the figure is not directly comparable across all 36 states due to limited data availability from the previous year.

The most significant increase was observed in security votes and related homeland security spending, which jumped from N47.67 billion to N135.61 billion. Meanwhile, expenditure through ministries of security and special advisers grew from N14.95 billion to N42.15 billion.

Despite these substantial expenditures, insecurity persists as a major challenge. Incidents of kidnapping, terrorism, banditry, communal violence, and killings continue in several regions of the country.

The National Human Rights Commission documented 651 kidnapping incidents and 492 killings from January to March 2026. Another report on security-related incidents recorded numerous fatalities in June.