IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-8p7583-7609.html

Military Expenditures, Insecurity, and Food Prices in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Ofem, Lekam Ujong

    (Department of Economics, University of Calabar, Nigeria)

  • Inaku Jacob Sunday

    (Department of Economics, University of Calabar, Nigeria)

  • Nkanu Thelma Ubi

    (Department of Business Administration, Louisiana State University)

  • Patricia Vaughan

    (Department of Public Health, Purdue University Global)

  • Adimorah Clement Onyia

    (Porsche Data Analyst German)

  • Abdullahi Ibrahim Usman

    (Department of International Relations, University of Lincoln)

Abstract

This study investigated the link between military expenditures, insecurity and food prices in Nigeria from 2005 to 2024. The specific objectives were to investigate the effect of military expenditures on insecurity in Nigeria and to determine the effect of insecurity on food prices in Nigeria. Secondary data from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, National Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank Indicators, etc were employed in the study. The study adopted the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) to analyze the secondary data. The result of the long- run ARDL estimation of the food price equation revealed that insecurity has a positive and insignificant effect on food prices, minimum wage has a positive and insignificant effect on food prices, imports has a positive and significant effect on food prices, exports has a negative and significant effect of food prices, exchange rate has a positive and significant effect on food prices while agricultural outputs has a negative and significant effect on food prices in the long run period. Furthermore, the result of the long- run ARDL estimation of the insecurity equation revealed that military expenditures has a positive and insignificant effect on insecurity, unemployment rate has a positive and significant effect on insecurity, poverty headcount has a negative and significant effect on insecurity, inflation rate has a positive and significant effect on insecurity while gross fixed capital formation has a negative and insignificant effect on insecurity in the long run period. The study concluded that the positive but insignificant relationship between insecurity and food prices in Nigeria suggests that insecurity alone does not fully explain fluctuations in food prices. It was also concluded that the positive but insignificant relationship between military expenditure and insecurity implies that increasing defense budgets alone cannot solve Nigeria's security crisis. Instead, Nigeria must adopt a broader security architecture that addresses economic, social, and political drivers of conflict alongside military measures. Based on the findings and conclusions it was recommended that local communities should prioritized strengthening the rural security to protect agricultural activities. Also, the government should encourage farmers to adopt insurance schemes that protect against losses due to conflict or instability. More so, government should prioritize comprehensive security reforms beyond military spending. Furthermore, the government should ensure that military budgets are efficiently allocated, managed, and monitored, among others.

Suggested Citation

  • Ofem, Lekam Ujong & Inaku Jacob Sunday & Nkanu Thelma Ubi & Patricia Vaughan & Adimorah Clement Onyia & Abdullahi Ibrahim Usman, 2025. "Military Expenditures, Insecurity, and Food Prices in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(8), pages 7583-7609, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-8:p:7583-7609
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-8/7583-7609.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/military-expenditures-insecurity-and-food-prices-in-nigeria/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. D’Souza, Anna & Jolliffe, Dean, 2013. "Conflict, food price shocks, and food insecurity: The experience of Afghan households," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 32-47.
    2. Solomon, Binga Lezuya (Ph.D.), 2021. "Impact of the Farmers and Herdsmen Conflict on Food Security; Focus on Taraba State," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(3), pages 564-573, March.
    3. Olumuyiwa Tolulope APANISILE & Olalekan Charles OKUNLOLA, 2014. "An Empirical Analysis Of Effects Of Military Spending On Economic Growth In Nigeria: A Bound Testing Approach To Co-Integration 1989-2013," Journal of Public Administration, Finance and Law, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 6(6), pages 117-130, December.
    4. Agaptus Nwozor & John Shola Olanrewaju & Modupe B. Ake, 2019. "National Insecurity and the Challenges of Food Security in Nigeria," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 8, December.
    5. J. Paul Dunne & Nan Tian, 2015. "Military Expenditure, Economic Growth and Heterogeneity," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 15-31, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ourania Dimitraki & Kyriakos Emmanouilidis, 2025. "Interactional Impact of Defence Expenditure and Political Instability on Economic Growth in Nigeria: Revisited," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 533-554, May.
    2. Dada James Temitope & Awoleye Emmanuel Olayemi & Arnaut Marina & Al-Faryan Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2023. "Revisiting the Military Expenditure-Growth Nexus: Does Institutional Quality Moderate the Effect?," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 29(1), pages 19-42, February.
    3. Isiaka Akande Raifu & Alarudeen Aminu, 2023. "The effect of military spending on economic growth in MENA: evidence from method of moments quantile regression," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Adedeji Daniel Gbadebo & Festus Victor Bekun & Joseph Olorunfemi Akande & Ahmed Oluwatobi Adekunle, 2025. "Defence spending and real growth in an asymmetric environment: Accessing evidence from a developing economy," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1372-1389, April.
    5. Kim, Chungmann, 2025. "From Food Crisis to Resource Allocation: Tracking Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan," 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO 360908, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Hans Pitlik & Michael Klien & Stefan Schiman-Vukan, 2017. "Stabilitätskonforme Berücksichtigung nachhaltiger öffentlicher Investitionen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 60595.
    7. Astrid Sneyers, 2017. "Food, Drought and Conflict Evidence from a Case-Study on Somalia," HiCN Working Papers 252, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Uk Heo & Min Ye, 2016. "Defense Spending and Economic Growth around the Globe: The Direct and Indirect Link," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 774-796, October.
    9. E. Desli & A. Gkoulgkoutsika, 2021. "Military spending and economic growth: a panel data investigation," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 781-806, August.
    10. Vincent A. Floreani & Gladys López-Acevedo & Martín Rama, 2021. "Conflict and Poverty in Afghanistan’s Transition," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(10), pages 1776-1790, October.
    11. Shakoor Ahmed & Khorshed Alam & Afzalur Rashid & Jeff Gow, 2020. "Militarisation, Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth in Myanmar," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 615-641, August.
    12. Alessandra Cepparulo & Luisa Giuriato & Paolo Pasimeni, 2025. "Defence Spending in the European Union: Evolution and Perspectives," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 67(4), pages 918-948, December.
    13. Dimitrios Karamanis, 2022. "Defence partnerships, military expenditure, investment, and economic growth: an analysis in PESCO countries," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 173, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    14. Ricardo Ferraz, 2022. "The Portuguese Military Expenditure from a Historical Perspective," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 347-365, April.
    15. Vusal Musayev, 2016. "Externalities in Military Spending and Growth: The Role of Natural Resources as a Channel through Conflict," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 378-391, June.
    16. Stamegna Marco & Bonaiuti Chiara & Maranzano Paolo & Pianta Mario, 2024. "The Economic Impact of Arms Spending in Germany, Italy, and Spain," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 30(4), pages 393-422.
    17. Jude Anayochukwu Mbanasor & Ogbonnaya Ukeh Oteh & Nnanna Mba Agwu & Chigozirim Ndubuisi Onwusiribe & Nwanneka Cynthia Ibem & Chibuzo Okpokiri & Ambrose Ogbonna Oloveze, 2022. "Wheat or cassava flour? Marketing and willingness to pay for cassava flour confectionery in Nigeria," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 24(3), pages 1-25.
    18. Prabhu Pingali & Anaka Aiyar & Mathew Abraham & Andaleeb Rahman, 2019. "Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India," Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-030-14409-8, March.
    19. Sayed Alim Samim & Zhiquan Hu & Sebastian Stepien & Sayed Younus Amini & Ramin Rayee & Kunyu Niu & George Mgendi, 2021. "Food Insecurity and Related Factors among Farming Families in Takhar Region, Afghanistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    20. Eftychia Nikolaidou, 2016. "Greece, Portugal, Spain: New evidence on the economic effects of military expenditure using the new SIPRI data," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 11(2), pages 20-27, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-8:p:7583-7609. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.