Billions in Security Votes, Yet Kidnapping Persists
For years, state governments across Nigeria have received billions of naira as security votes.
These funds are always best known to the governors because they budget that the citizens know the actual amount, and they are exempt from detailed public scrutiny.
This fund is intended to support security operations, intelligence gathering, logistics, and emergency responses. Yet, despite the continuous allocation of security votes, insecurity remains one of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges.
Between 2023 and 2025, the federal government budgeted N525.23 billion for security votes and related operations, in an analysis of figures extracted from the approved budget documents of 32 state governors, excluding Gombe, Kebbi, Niger, and Yobe, who did not clearly disclose their allocations for security votes.
As years go by, security patterns shift, and it shows how states spend their security budget and announce it to the public even though no one knows the exact amount of money they receive.
In 2025 security vote expenditure had expanded sharply, with Borno topping the list with N32.83 billion and Anambra second with N25.10 billion, while Oyo recorded an unusually large jump to N20.09 billion, compared with just N26.5 million in 2023 and N5.46 million in 2024.
The 2026 budget allocated about N140bn as security votes to 10 state governors across the federation; this is as a result of the steady rise in the security vote funds released by the states over the past two years, amid escalating killings, abductions, and terror attacks in parts of the country.
Despite the billions of naira allocated to the governors, we found out that at least 1,100 people have been abducted in three months, from January to April 2026.
The recent kidnapping, which happened in the Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State, where pupils, students, and teachers were kidnapped by armed bandits, has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of security spending and the country’s broader security architecture.
On May 15, 2026, suspected bandits attacked schools in Ahoro-Esiele and Yawota communities in the Orire Local Government Area, abducting 42 pupils and 7 teachers while reportedly killing two teachers.
The attack highlighted the growing spread of kidnapping and banditry from northern regions into the South-West. Reports indicate that the victims were taken from Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School in the area.
The incident exposed glaring security vulnerabilities. Despite assurances from authorities that security operatives had surrounded the forest areas where the kidnappers were believed to be hiding, many of the victims remained in captivity weeks after the attack.
The Oyo State Police Command repeatedly debunked social media reports claiming that the abductees had been released, confirming that rescue operations were still ongoing.
The Orire attack is not an isolated event. Across Nigeria, kidnappers continue to target schools, highways, religious centers, and rural communities. The persistence of these crimes raises concerns about whether security votes are translating into improved intelligence gathering, surveillance technology, community policing, and rapid response capabilities.
One major criticism of security votes is the lack of transparency surrounding their expenditure. Unlike other budgetary allocations, security votes are often managed at the discretion of state executives, making it difficult for citizens to assess their impact.
While governments argue that security operations require confidentiality, accountability remains necessary to ensure that public funds achieve measurable outcomes.
The Orire kidnapping also reinforces arguments for structural reforms. President Bola Tinubu, while reacting to the incident, reiterated the need for state police, arguing that decentralized policing could help secure underserved communities more effectively.
Similarly, the House of Representatives recently called for accelerated consideration of state police legislation following the Oyo school abductions.State police is a good development; the question remains if governors will control it like security votes, risking abuse and lack of transparency.
Beyond funding and state policing creation, security experts have consistently argued that Nigeria’s insecurity is driven by intelligence gaps, weak border controls, poor coordination among security agencies, inadequate manpower, and the existence of vast ungoverned forest spaces that provide safe havens for criminal groups.
As kidnapping and banditry continue to spread across regions once considered relatively safe, Nigerians deserve answers about how security funds are spent and whether current approaches are capable of protecting lives and property. The tragedy in Orire should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers to move beyond rhetoric and focus on measurable security reforms that deliver tangible results.
