The warning issued by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the Nigerian chapter of Transparency International (TI), on the United Nations Anti-Corruption Day reinforces the truth that corruption is a direct catalyst for the country’s worsening insecurity.
Development Diaries reports that, according to a statement signed by CISLAC’s Executive Director and Head of TI-Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the organisation expressed concern that corruption within the system continues to undermine national security and leave citizens exposed to persistent violence, despite significant investments in defence and internal security.
Despite huge budgetary allocations to defence and internal security, CISLAC notes that corruption ‘undermines every layer of the security architecture’, leaving citizens exposed to violence that government spending should be preventing.
This reinforces the reality that insecurity persists not because Nigeria lacks resources, but because those resources are routinely diverted, mismanaged, or weaponised for personal gain.
A particularly alarming aspect of CISLAC’s statement is its revelation that security funds ‘continue to disappear through inflated contracts, questionable procurement deals, misallocation of resources and outright diversion of money meant for operations and equipment’.
This goes beyond financial misconduct; it has life-and-death consequences.
When frontline officers are under-equipped, unpaid, and demoralised, while families of deceased officers are denied entitlements, then the country’s defence structure becomes hollow.
The result is predictable. Terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and organised criminal groups expand their operations with little resistance.
CISLAC’s warning also brings attention to how recruitment corruption and nepotism sabotage national safety. The organisation points out that unqualified individuals have been placed ‘in sensitive positions’ while competent officers are sidelined.
This is compounded by the manipulation of laws to extend tenures unlawfully, encouraging a culture of impunity. Even the presidential directive withdrawing police personnel from VIP escorts ‘has been largely disregarded’, exposing systemic inequalities where a few individuals enjoy excessive protection while ordinary Nigerians remain vulnerable to daily threats.
With Nigeria ranking as the sixth most affected country, with 565 terrorism-related deaths in 2024, according to the 2024 Global Terrorism Index, the stakes could not be higher.
Nigeria also reportedly accounts for a significant share of illicit small arms and light weapons circulating in West Africa, as cited by CISLAC/TI-Nigeria.
CISLAC’s assertion that ‘insecurity has now become a lucrative enterprise’ for certain actors who facilitate ransom payments emphasises the existence of a criminal ecosystem feeding off citizens’ suffering.
This combination of corruption, poor oversight, and criminal profiteering has become a direct threat to Nigeria’s stability.
In light of these revelations, urgent action is not optional, it is necessary for national survival.
CISLAC’s call for sweeping reforms, full transparency in defence spending, stronger legislative oversight, strict disciplinary measures for compromised officers, and improved welfare for frontline personnel must be treated as a national emergency.
According to the statement, ‘no volume of military spending will deliver results ‘if diverted funds, weak oversight and entrenched impunity continue to undermine the system’.
The federal government, National Assembly, anti-corruption bodies, and security institutions must demonstrate the political will to dismantle corruption networks and rebuild the security architecture with integrity at its core.
Citizens must have a country where their safety is not compromised by corruption or political convenience, and the time to act decisively is now.
Photo source: CISLAC
