A former senior officer of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has questioned the management and accountability of security votes allocated to state governors, alleging that about ₦67 billion is being disbursed to governors monthly without adequate auditing.
Amachree raised the concern during an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica, where he discussed Nigeria’s security challenges and the need for stronger oversight of funds allocated for security operations.
According to the former DSS officer, the monthly allocation to governors amounts to about ₦67 billion and is largely unaudited, creating room for possible misuse of public funds.
Amachree said the funds are intended to support security operations at the state level but argued that the absence of effective monitoring and public accountability has made the money vulnerable to abuse.
“These monies are given to the governors directly. This has become pocket money for the governors because it is unaudited,” Amachree said.
He questioned why such a substantial amount of public money should be distributed without effective mechanisms to monitor how it is spent, particularly as several parts of the country continue to experience insecurity involving banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other forms of violent crime.
The former DSS officer argued that stronger oversight was necessary to determine whether security votes were being deployed for their intended purpose and whether the expenditure was producing measurable security outcomes across the states.
His comments have added to the longstanding public debate over the transparency and accountability of security votes, which are provided to state governments to support security-related activities.
However, Amachree did not provide details or documentation showing how the ₦67 billion monthly figure was calculated.
Beyond the issue of security votes, the former DSS officer called for increased scrutiny of Nigeria’s wider security architecture, including the movement of arms into the country and the alleged financing of criminal activities through illegal mining.
He urged security agencies to investigate the sources and intended recipients of weapons intercepted at Nigeria’s borders, particularly amid heightened political activities and preparations for future elections.
“The security agencies must look into it and find out the people behind it,” he said.
Amachree also linked illegal mining activities in states including Zamfara, Nasarawa and Kaduna to the financing of banditry and other criminal operations.
According to him, criminal groups operating in ungoverned spaces have exploited illegal mining as a means of generating funds to sustain their activities.
“Remember the bandits occupy the ungoverned spaces, so they fund their operations through illegal mining and kidnapping,” he said.
He called on the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute individuals allegedly involved in financing terrorism, banditry and other criminal activities.
Amachree maintained that tackling the financial networks supporting criminal groups, alongside greater accountability for security-related public expenditure, would be critical to strengthening Nigeria’s fight against insecurity.