No fewer than 279 persons were kidnapped across Nigeria in May 2026, even as the country recorded 156 violent incidents that resulted in 842 deaths, according to new data from Nextier’s Nigeria Violent Conflicts Database, yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has raised the alarm over “the persistent poor implementation of the national budget”, warning that underfunding of critical security agencies is worsening insecurity across the country.

Therefore, the President of the Nigeria Society for Criminology (NSC), Professor Oludayo Tade, tasked President Bola Tinubu with intensifying efforts to secure Nigeria and protect its citizens.

The figures indicate a rise in insecurity, with violent incidents “by 51.5 per cent, casualties increasing by 90.1 per cent, and kidnap victims climbing by 19.7 per cent compared to May 2025.”

The data comes amid growing concerns that Nigeria’s peacebuilding efforts are not yielding measurable results despite significant investments by governments and development partners.

In a new policy article titled ‘The Travails of Measuring Peacebuilding in Fragile Contexts’, development practitioner and research professional at Nextier; visiting Lead for Research and Policy at Nextier, Jamilu Musa, and a Political Science lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Dr Chukwuma Okoli, warned that weak impact assessment frameworks were undermining the effectiveness of interventions.

According to experts, while governments and local communities continue to invest in peacebuilding programmes, assessing whether these interventions reduce conflict remains a major challenge.

Musa and Okoli argued that with shrinking international funding for peacebuilding, measuring impact becomes more important than ever.

For them, counting activities alone is insufficient; the key question is whether peacebuilding interventions are helping communities become safer, more inclusive and more resilient amid Nigeria’s security challenges.

THE Reps caucus disclosed that it would formally raise the issue upon the resumption of plenary, insisting that the Federal Government must account for the alleged failure to fully implement appropriations passed by the National Assembly since 2024.

The position formed part of resolutions reached during an emergency virtual meeting of the caucus held on June 19, where members reviewed the nation’s security situation and the implementation status of key government programmes.

Spokesman of the Caucus, Afam Victor Ogene, who shed light on the outcome of the parley, claimed that defence and security-related Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) recorded less than 30 per cent budget implementation despite growing security challenges nationwide.

“Available records indicate that budget implementation in key defence and security agencies remains below 30 per cent, a situation that is unacceptable given the scale of insecurity confronting the nation,” Ogene said.

According to the lawmakers, the low level of implementation has had severe consequences for military operations, logistics and the overall fight against insurgency, banditry and other violent crimes.

The consequence of this poor funding is evident in the challenges faced by our security personnel in prosecuting the war against insurgency, banditry and kidnapping,” the statement noted.

The opposition lawmakers also accused the executive of repeatedly failing to honour commitments made to Nigerians through budgets approved by parliament, stressing that accountability for budget implementation remains a core constitutional responsibility of the National Assembly.

THE NSC president stated that the task before Tinubu “is important” because the insecurity problem facing Nigeria has both national and transnational dimensions.

He said: “As the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the President must protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and then ensure that Nigerians are free from fear of travelling on the roads or being abducted from school and their communities. The first constitutional duty is to protect lives and property, and failing to do so efficiently indicates failure. Nigerians need to experience and feel secure, and Nigeria must be protected from terrorists entering the country. Their local collaborators, both inside and outside government, must be identified and punished. The president must display political will to secure Nigeria and Nigerians.”

In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, Tade stated that the just-concluded 2026 International Conference of NSC was themed ‘Securing Nigeria and Protecting Nigerians’, emphasising that the government must improve the state of the economy to reduce the propensity to commit crime while sustaining attacks on bandits, kidnappers and terrorists.

Speaking at the 4th International Conference of NSC, held at Cosmopolitan University, Abuja, the don stated that the keynote speaker, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Senior Fellow, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, called on the Federal Government to fulfil its duty of protecting Nigeria and Nigerians.