As Nigeria joined the global community in marking the United Nations Anti-Corruption Day, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Transparency International (TI)-Nigeria issued a stark warning: corruption remains the driving force sustaining the nation’s deepening security crisis.

In a statement signed by CISLAC Executive Director and TI-Nigeria’s head, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the organisations accused top government officials, security chiefs, and political actors of exploiting insecurity for personal gain while ordinary Nigerians continue to suffer death, displacement, and fear.

Rafsanjani noted that despite billions spent on defence operations, police interventions, security votes, and special military missions, insecurity persists because the system is riddled with diversion of funds, inflated procurement, illegal arms deals, compromised recruitment processes, and poor welfare for frontline personnel.

According to CISLAC/TI-Nigeria, corruption has infiltrated every layer of national security management—from procurement and deployment to intelligence gathering, promotions, and even posthumous benefits. The group stressed that security contracts remain the most lucrative avenue for political and military elites, enabled by opaque procurement systems and “ghost” operations.

Frontline security officers, they said, continue to battle starvation-level allowances, poor-quality equipment, unpaid insurance, and long delays in compensation for families of fallen personnel.

Rafsanjani further alleged that recruitment into security institutions has become a “racketeering mafia,” where bribes, political influence, and ethnic considerations determine candidates’ acceptance, sidelining qualified officers and deepening inefficiency and internal sabotage.

The organisations also condemned what they described as the growing “VIP insecurity economy,” where influential individuals enjoy platoon-level escorts and illegal police deployments while ordinary citizens remain vulnerable to kidnappers, cult groups, and terrorist cells.

They cited entrenched nepotism, tenure extension schemes among security chiefs, and deliberate obstruction of intelligence-sharing as additional contributors to the worsening situation.

CISLAC/TI-Nigeria accused the National Assembly of failing to exercise independent oversight over defence spending, continuously approving massive classified budgets without transparency or accountability.

The groups also highlighted institutionalised police extortion at roadblocks, calling it a criminal revenue pyramid where junior officers must remit weekly returns to senior commanders.

Rafsanjani warned that Nigeria now harbours one of the largest concentrations of illicit arms in West Africa, with an estimated 70% of smuggled weapons circulating in the country—fueling terrorism, banditry, and organised crime. He referenced the 2024 Global Terrorism Index, which ranked Nigeria among the top 10 most terrorised countries in the world.

The organisations added that insecurity has effectively become a business for certain individuals in government who profit from ransom negotiations, criminal collaborations, and the perpetuation of violence that sustains continuous funding flows.

CISLAC/TI-Nigeria called for an urgent overhaul of defence procurement processes, full disclosure of all security-related spending, and independent audits of contracts and operations. They urged the National Assembly to stop rubber-stamping budgets and instead undertake forensic scrutiny of defence allocations, operational outcomes, and welfare expenditure.

The groups also demanded strict sanctions for officers involved in extortion, bribery, criminal collusion, and operational compromise, stressing that corruption within the security sector has evolved from a governance failure into a full-blown national threat.

They advocated for stronger inter-agency intelligence coordination, protection for whistle-blowers, improved insurance, and adequate equipment for security operatives, arguing that no military hardware can defeat terrorism when the system deploying it is compromised.

“Security will continue to collapse no matter how much is spent if corruption remains the foundation,” Rafsanjani warned, adding that Nigerians are “paying with their blood while a small powerful circle profits from insecurity.”

CISLAC/TI-Nigeria reaffirmed its commitment to mobilising citizens, lawmakers, and security stakeholders to dismantle corruption networks within defence structures, insisting that Nigeria deserves a future where safety is secured by accountability, justice, and genuine national interest—not by kickbacks, opaque contracts, or political protection rackets.