ABSTRACT
Most Nigerians believe, ‘defence’ continues to be necessary to the preservation of the state, both internally against possible threat of disintegration and externally against potential dangers of attack and conquest. The phrase ‘gun procurement’ shall refer not only to military purchases, including imports of arms and ammunition and equipment, but also expenditures on staff and emoluments, enlistment benefits, and construction of facilities; while ‘gari production’, as a blanket term. It covers the whole gamut of nonmilitary activities of government, especially agriculture, education, health, labour, rural water supplies, and community development, that comes loosely speaking under the rubric variously known as welfare, social expenditures, or basic needs. A comparison of the Federal recurrent outlays for defence with those for various social sectors during the period shows an even greater disparity, with the government tending to spend much more on the former than any of the latter.
