Can FG’s trillion-naira budget end insurgency?

In spite of the Federal Government’s defence budget, which is about N1trillion this year, the insurgency in the North-Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa is taking a worsening toll in terms of casualty. In the last three years, government had spent trillions of naira fighting terrorism without appreciable result. Like previous budgets, there are provisions of about a trillion naira to be spent on security and defence superstructure which include the armed forces, the intelligence community and various law-enforcement agencies.
Even with previous years’ colossal expenditure on defence, Nigerian security agencies, particularly the military, which are directly involved on the war on terror, remain poorly-equipped and thus unmotivated. An analysis of the 2014 budget estimates on defence show that the sector’s ministry got the highest share, to the tune of N340 billion.
Of that amount, the Nigerian Army got N133 billion, Navy (N70bn), Air force (N73bn), main defence ministry (N23bn), Nigerian Defence Academy (N8bn), Defence Intelligence Agency (N7bn),  Nigerian Defence College (N7bn), Command and Staff College, Jaji (N3bn).
Others include Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (N1.9bn), Defence Missions (N7bn),  Defence headquarters (N1.8bn), Presidential Committee on Barracks Rehabilitation (N1.9bn) Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, Lagos (N2bn) and Military Pension Board (N143m).
The Office of the National Security Adviser (NSO), which co-ordinates the intelligence community was allocated N111bn in the budget. The State Security Service (SSS) got N10bn and Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) got N4.7bn.
The Federal Government will also spend N24 billion on internal operations of the armed forces. Also, the police formations and commands across the country were allocated N292bn; Police Affairs Ministry got N7.2bn and police service commission received allocation of N1.7bn. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was allocated N59bn in the budget.
These amounts don’t necessarily include other sources used in acquiring hardware for the military and the police, as the Federal Government uses special funds to procure vehicles, weapons and other hardware. Presently, one percent is being deducted monthly from state and local governments federal allocation as counter funds to procure hardware and other infrastructure for the police.