The Bauchi state government has spent a whopping N67.39 billion in the last four years in the name of controversial security votes, Wikki Data reveals.
The state, similarly, expended N47.79 billion in combined capital expenditure for education and healthcare in the four years under review.
WikkiData review of Bauchi Budget Performance reports from 2021 to first quarter of 2024 found that the state security vote expenditure overshadowed that of the two most critical sectors of health and education.
WikkiData analysis further reveals breakdown of the annual expenditure among the three critical sectors of the security, health and education. In 2021, security votes cost N12, 782, 770, 105.82 while capital expenditure in health and education got N5, 619, 331, 541.80 and N11, 490, 420, 904. 37 respectively.
According to the performance report of 2022, Bauchi’s security expenses almost doubled from the previous year to N 21,772,264,945.87; health expenditure upped to N 7,676,992,888.38 whereas education sector expenditure was slashed to N 5,877,817,360.60 compared to the previous year.
The reports further show that massive expenditure was incurred in 2023 on security votes to the tune of N 23,468,667,834.43 while health sector recorded improvement in comparison to the past year with N 10,075,355,160.29; education sector also recorded slight improvement to N 6,380,877,240.88 compared to 2022
In the 2024 expenditure, the first quarter report noted that between January and March, a total of N 9,371,507,220.00 was spent on security votes while health and education within the timeframe stood at meagre N618,332,561.83 and 54,068,930.00 respectively.
The analysis indicates that state’s expenditure on security has ballooned over the years while those of education and health fluctuated which reflects the state’s increasing prioritization of security expenditure.
However, the non-priotisation of education and healthcare is reflected in poor service delivery across schools and health facilities.
Although Bauchi State is not in a state of serious security challenge like Boko Haram-ravaged Borno, Yobe and Adamawa or any of the Northwestern states where banditry ravages, observers contend that the state needs to review its utilisation of resources in the face of multiple challenges affecting the state.
