Olushola Omogbehin
President Tinubu has re-established the decision of his administration to be more ruthless on terrorists, kidnappers, bandits and individuals who finance, facilitate or encourage their violent crimes in any way.
He disclosed this in Abuja on Friday while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18 trillion.
Tinubu emphasised that every violent group or individual shall be treated as terrorist.
According to him, his government will ensure that all the money voted for security in the 2026 budget gives birth to improved and safe society and the safety of Nigerians because national security is the foundation of development.
He said that the priorities of the 2026 budget would be on security, technology-enabled surveillance and community-based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
It would also strengthen support for the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence-driven policing and joint security operations.
This is because without good security and infrastructure, investment would not survive and effort on education, public health, productivity and employment would be in futility
“We will usher in a new era of criminal justice. We will show no mercy to those who commit or support acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and other violent crimes.
“Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine, a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence gathering, community stability, and counter insurgency.
“Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists.
“Bandits, militias, armed gangs, armed robbers, violent cults, forest-based armed groups and foreign-linked mercenaries will all be targeted.
“We will go after all those who perpetrate violence for political or sectarian ends, along with those who finance and facilitate their evil schemes,” he said.
The President earmarked N5.41tn for Defence and Security – the single largest allocation in the proposed budget.
From the N58.18 trillion presented, N5.41 trillion was allocated for defence and security which is the single largest in the proposed budget.
N3.56 trillion was allocated for infrastructure while education and health sectors received N3.52 and N2.48 trillion respectively.
