Grand deceit: Vehicle donation alone can’t solve security problem, Nigerians tell governors

For the first time in the history of Nigerian politics, Mr. President seems to be enjoying the support from all political office-holders including those from the opposition camp.

The National Assembly has never dared to challenge him as its two chambers have approved every one of Mr. President’s wishes, including the ones their constituencies have been crying foul over.

The governors have also found delight in pouring encomium on Mr. President at every turn.

The reason for the above is well captured by Umo Eno, governor of Akwa Ibom State, who has repeatedly sung the praise of the President.

Governor Eno has been attributing the huge projects he has executed in the state to the increased federal revenue allocation.

But many, especially indigenes of the state, think that it was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s huge allocations that drove him to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It is believed that it is the too much allocation that is responsible for the cordial relationship between the president and the governors today.

Truly, Nigeria’s states and local governments, under President Bola Tinubu, are witnessing an unprecedented surge in allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), which increased from N3.58 trillion in 2023, to N5.81 trillion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of about 62 percent.

Yet, the largesse continued to soar in 2025, with states receiving N3.425 trillion between January and June.

Meanwhile, pundits attribute the windfall to: subsidy removal in mid-2023 that freed up significant oil revenues previously absorbed by petrol subsidy payments; surge in NNPC remittances by 98 percent in the first half of 2025; and rise in Value Added Tax (VAT) collections. But they equally decried that the huge allocations to the governors amount to “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as the masses are not feeling the impact.

They also regretted that despite an obvious ‘bottomless pit’ allocations, the governors are still looking up to the federal government to solve their problems, especially infrastructural development and insecurity.

According to Bem Hembafan, a retired soldier, and security expert, with the huge allocations, money is no longer an issue for all the 36 state governors, but how to deploy the funds into good use, secure and lift the people.

“I love Nuhu Ribadu’s call to action for the governors on security of their states. With the huge allocations from the federal government, each state can improve its security architecture, engage critical stakeholders and garner the needed support. You don’t always win a war by guns, dialogue works better and Governor Uba Sani has proved this in Kaduna,” Hembafan, who runs a security outfit for private estates in Abuja, said.

Speaking further, he decried that building modern stations and buying hundreds of Hilux vans and donating them to security agencies in their states are not enough, as that is often “settlement” for the contractors who were engaged to execute them.

“Now, the governors are building stations, buying and donating more operational vehicles to security agencies and are boasting of it, but the stations and vehicles are run-down within six months of the donation. I am not saying this to despise my colleagues, but to say that the governors should do more than the donations to improve security in their states,” Hembafan said.

Toeing the same line, Chijoke Umelahi, an Abuja-based lawyer, said that the states and FCT Abuja were not doing enough to secure lives and property in their domain, considering their huge allocations now.

He argued that with all the security agencies headquartered in Abuja, all the security personnel with intimidating guns and vehicles stationed on strategic places, yet there are still pockets of insecurity in Abuja, especially kidnapping that is getting out of hand.

The above points to the gaps in the security architecture, which, according to him, do not necessarily need funds to fill, but efficient strategies and collaborations.

The worst cases for him are Plateau and Benue states, which seem to have defied all solutions as more people die every day under the watch of security personnel, despite multiple security posts, and noise of huge funds expended on security by the governors.

“It is clear now that guns only will not fight insecurity, but humans with the right frame of mind, well-boosted morale, whose future is secured while in the frontline and efficient strategy.

If these fail, the governors should put their offices on line and query the federal government’s sincerity in the fight of insecurity,” he said.

According to him, the governors should be bold to step on toes after spending huge funds on security and little is achieved, especially to find out if there is sabotage, name and shame the culprits and insist on prosecutions to avert reoccurrence.

“Governor Uba Sani seems to be doing this quietly and he is getting results. Sadly, he is spending less than his predecessor and still getting better results.

“It is not all about the funds, but commitment to monitoring the deployment, welfare of security personnel in the frontline and regular engagement with stakeholders across the state,” Umelahi said.

Toeing the same line, Godwin Amahaotu, a serving security officer, explained that buying operational vans without boosting the morale of the officers out there, without making them to own the fight, and without insurance has always ended up in sabotage of such efforts.

“We are happy to work with good operational vehicles, but we also have families and needs to meet, which means that we may not always be in the right frame of mind to work and you know what means,” Amahaotu said.

He argued that if a state augments what the officers earn, engage them on regular dialogue and see to their needs, the officers will own the fight against insecurity in that state.

While many cite instance with Kaduna, the reality is that the level of insecurity in the state has significantly reduced, with the rescue of kidnapped people, elimination of terrorists, reclaiming of communities and farmlands hitherto taken over by criminals and terrorists, and recent surrender of some of the bandits.

Citizens and residents are gradually returning to their communities.