Nigeria: The Fallacy of the Security Vote

22 December 2012
opinion

The first thing that comes to mind when you mention the 'security vote', in this country, is that awoof money that goes to governor's pockets every month. Here I mean that ultimate rift-causer between godfathers and godsons in the Nigerian political arena. The phenomenon which created such potential chart-busters like 'Ngige and Uba: Betrayal and Kidnap' as well as 'Adedibu and Ladoja: Loot's labour's lost', etc.

Yet yours truly isn't talking about that security vote, as interesting as it is to discuss because of the many scandals it breeds. The one I have in mind today is the amount budgeted for security in this year's budget. It was the whooping sum of N921 billion. The biggest amount ever voted for security concerns in the history of Nigeria. But it is highly ironic that this amount was voted in a year in which the biggest security scares, breaches and threats were recorded. Even more ironic is the fact that as the year rolls to an end the mother of the coordinating minister of the economy became a victim of a high-profile kidnap saga.

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