Amid the escalating security crisis across Nigeria, the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Air Force are grappling with gross underfunding, particularly in the acquisition of security and defence equipment, according to records from the federal government’s Open Treasury Portal. Details of the 2025 budget performance posted on the portal showed that of the N20.56bn budgeted by the Nigerian Army for the purchase of security equipment, only N1.46bn, representing 7.11%, was disbursed as of December 31, 2025. The data for the 2026 monthly budget performance has not been posted on the website managed by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while signing the N68.32 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill into law on Friday, extended the implementation of the 2025 budget to June 31, 2026, raising concerns about the government’s continued struggle to fund its expenditures and Nigeria’s mounting debts which hit N159.28trn in December 2025, aside from a fresh $6 billion loan recently approved by the Senate. Of the N4.52trn total expenditure the army proposed for 2025, N1.17trn or 25.94% was disbursed as of the end of the year. For the Air Force, N238.32bn of its N1.25trn total expenditure was released, representing 19.04%.

The data further showed that of the N336.76bn earmarked for the purchase of defence equipment by the army, N16.71bn was disbursed during the period, representing a paltry 4.96%. Also, only N5.76bn and N3.89bn were released for the construction/provision of defence equipment and repairs of defence equipment budgeted at N57.59bn and N22.60bn, signifying a budget performance of 10% and 9.07% respectively. Other critical areas that received low performance include local training, N2bn released out of N18.56bn (10.78%); international training, N2bn disbursed out of N29.80bn (6.71%) and motor vehicle fuel cost, N1.17bn released out of N15.71bn (7.45%).

No amount was released for transport equipment fuel cost with a budget of N21.02bn, aircraft fuel cost budgeted at N12.81bn, promotion, recruitment and appointment worth N384.08 million; construction/provision of military barracks worth N206.97bn and research and development pegged at N100m. NAF’s aircraft NAF’s aircraft maintenance receives low attention Records on the Open Treasury portal further revealed that N4.85bn or 13.98% of the N34.71bn budgeted for the maintenance of aircraft, which are central to the NAF’s operations, was released as of December 2025. This is a sharp contrast with N20.27bn disbursed for the running of the presidential air fleet, out of the N20.74bn budgeted, marking 97.76% implementation.

Of the N15.75bn budgeted for the purchase of NAF’s security equipment, N5.25bn was released during the period, representing 33.33%. The purchase of defence equipment suffered a major setback with N19.25bn or 6.45% released out of N298.44bn budgeted. While the N117.90 budget for the rehabilitation/repairs of defence equipment was implemented by 3.99% (N4.71bn), no amount was released for the construction/provision of defence of equipment budgeted at N7.16bn; welfare packages pegged at N28.33m; construction of military barracks estimated at N95.68m; repairs of military/defence barracks, worth N6.76bn and other transport equipment fuel cost estimated N45.03m.

Other vital items that received little attention during the fiscal year included aircraft fuel cost with a total disbursement of N2.23bn (5.07%) out of N43.91bn; motor vehicle fuel cost, N1.71bn released out of N4,41bn (38.72%) and international training, N2.20bn disbursed out of N17.56bn, representing 12.50%. However, local training, maintenance of motor vehicle/transport equipment, security services and security votes received considerable implementation at 41.56%, 58.28%, 98.10% and 79.65% respectively. Efforts made last night to get reactions from the military high command on the budget performance were unsuccessful.

Repeated telephone calls to the Director, Defence Information, Brigadier-General Samaila Uba, rang out. He was yet to reply to both text and Whatsapp messages sent to him at the time of filing this report. Human cost amid poor funding Experts say the funding gap has undermined the efficiency of the Nigerian military in fighting terrorism, banditry and other violent crimes across the country, especially in the northern region.

A report by Beacon Security Intelligence Limited (BSIL) based in Abuja indicated that more than 10,000 people were killed in the country during the budget cycle under review, between January and December 2025. The security consultant firm revealed that from January 1 to October 31, 2025, 9,514 people were killed across Nigeria. In November that year, it said at least 404 Nigerians were killed, while 363 were abducted.

By December, 323 casualties were recorded in the North West and 241 in the North Central, with the North accounting for 91.1% of all recorded fatalities in that period. In a recent interview with Ari