No fewer than 31 state governments spent an estimated N252.26bn to fight criminality and eliminate insecurity in their respective states in the first six months of 2026, with Kogi, Plateau and Bauchi accounting for the largest share, despite the continued killings, kidnappings and banditry recorded across the country.
An analysis of the fiscal performance of each state, utilising data from the Q1 to Q2 budget performance reports from January to June 2026 obtained from Open Nigerian States, a budgIT-backed website that serves as a repository of government budget data, on Sunday, showed that Kogi topped the table with N34.67bn, representing 13.74 per cent of the total expenditure captured in the data. Plateau followed with N23.69bn, or 9.39 per cent, while Bauchi spent N22.35bn, representing 8.86 per cent.
The states which recorded security-related expenditure include Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara, while Akwa Ibom, Edo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe recorded no expenditure in the listed categories.
The figures cover spending on security equipment, homeland security personnel, security votes and operations, ministries of security or special advisers, and security trust funds.
It showed that state-level spending rose sharply in the latest data, with the combined expenditure across the states covered increasing by N176.42bn, or 232.6 per cent, from N75.84bn in 2025 to N252.26bn.
But based on a year-on-year comparison of states with available data, the figures you supplied show that 22 states spent approximately N144.44bn in 2026, compared with N75.84bn in 2025. That is an increase of approximately N68.61bn, or 90.5 per cent.
The figures highlight the efforts by sub-nationals as they deploy resources to complement federal security efforts and respond to threats within their territories.
