A key feature of the 2012 budget proposals that has drawn a lot of flak from Nigerians is the lopsided allocation to security. The sector, according to a breakdown of the N4.7tn 2012 budget proposals presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan, has been allocated a whopping N921.9bn, an amount that is more than the combined allocations of 10 federal ministries covered in the budget. This outrageous figure will be further appreciated when viewed against the proposed spending on other key sectors such as Education (N400bn), Health (N283bn), Works (N180bn), Power (161bn) and Agriculture (N69bn). According to Jonathan, the government plans to invest massively in security, including providing more support for the police, defence and counter-terrorism operations. We recognise that we can only achieve the developmental goals in a secure and peaceful environment.But while the enormity of the nations security challenges can be appreciated amid ceaseless terrorist bombings, sectarian strife, bank robberies, kidnapping and car-jacking, the crises cannot end simply by throwing money at them. Emphasis should rather be on tackling the remote and immediate causes of insecurity in the country. Evidently, rising crime, unrest and general insecurity are traceable to the dire economic situation and its concomitant poverty, income inequalities and joblessness.The nations economy today is in a mess, featuring the collapse of businesses owing to the poor operating environment. Companies are shutting down and others relocating to neighbouring nations. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has revealed that, in 2009, 834 member-companies shut down while half of those still in operation were ailing. Invariably, over 83,000 persons were said to have been rendered jobless by the closures. The worsening insecurity in the North can be partly traced to collapsed industry and commerce, which once provided ample employment opportunities in the region. The present problems are therefore largely due to the poor business environment, which the budget should address.According to the World Bank, the cost of doing business in Africa is about 30-40 per cent above that of other developing regions, with Nigerias case one of the worst. The need to generate their own electric power, among other infrastructure challenges, pay high interest rates, contend with high cost of imported raw materials, endure tedious and costly means of transport, have raised production cost and made local goods uncompetitive. Subsequent factory closures have created an alarming unemployment rate in the land. The Central Bank of Nigeria in July put the rate of youth unemployment at 41.6 per cent. Former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga, said in December last year that 49 per cent of Nigerias urban youths and 39.7 per cent of the nations rural youths were unemployed. The Ministry of Labour and Productivity had put the figure of graduate unemployment at 41 per cent. These are critical challenges that have great implications for the nations security. It was expected that the emphasis of the financial plan would be on how to transform the nations infrastructure with a view to reviving the nations industrial sector, revolutionising agriculture and creating jobs.But while the 2012 budget has been christened the budget of Fiscal Consolidation, Inclusive Growth and Job Creation, it is incredible that such critical sectors as Power, Works, Education, Transportation, Agriculture and Water Resources have attracted paltry allocations while Security has been allocated up to 20 per cent of the estimate. It is instructive that the over N1.1tn allocated to security in the 2011 budget, which was about 26 per cent of the entire estimate, could not stem worsening insecurity in the country.Improving on security will also depend on greater commitment by security personnel and adoption of workable strategies. A former Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi, at a national stakeholders summit in Abuja, observed that there had been no synergy between the police and other security agencies because, according to him, ...there is no legal obligation on the part of the Inspector-General of Police, service chiefs and heads of the various security agencies to share intelligence and render assistance to one another.Also speaking on the lack of commitment among policemen in the country, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of F Department, Mohammed Yesufu, recently identified the poor attitude of policemen at duty posts as one of the reasons armed robbers easily killed them at checkpoints. How can a policeman on duty sit, relaxed, reading a newspaper under a tree, while the other is relaxing inside a vehicle' Tell me why robbers wouldnt open fire and kill all of them', he wondered.Most policemen manning checkpoints are more often preoccupied with extorting money from motorists than intercepting criminals. Therefore, for the nation to have any significant improvement in security, there should be an overhaul of the system, especially a reorientation among the security personnel. The government cannot achieve results by throwing money at the problem. Rather, what is urgently needed is creating an environment for enduring security through emphasis on job creation and a more efficient intelligence-driven security system.
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