Though Nigeria’s government has cast itself as a hapless victim of Islamic terrorism, prosecutions of security forces committing murder and torture are practically non-existent in Nigeria.

Political opportunism is also quite common: Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, has often accused Boko Haram of being strongly tied to groups such as al-Qaeda, a claim that until recently has been false.

He has used this as a means to convince countries such as the U.S. and Britain to send financial aid, downplaying the significant role regional politics have played in forming such factions. Jonathan has also repeatedly accused the power elite in Nigeria’s north of controlling Boko Haram, even though experts agree that this is a complete fabrication. Political rivals have been arrested under flimsy charges that they were tied to the Islamists.

Attending the civil society post budget dialogue organised by a consortium of NGOs with a bias on equitable pro-poor budget under civil society budget advocacy group (csbag) under the theme; “government financing and expenditure choices fy 2014/15: what are the alternatives”? Panelists are stalk taking the alternative of the budget speech that was read by the finance minister recently so that the views generated in this dialogue are expected to inform the government passing the budget with a pro-poor approach.

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