Here's How Military Chiefs Got N238bn For Weapons, Others In Two Years

Report says the Ministry of Defence together with the Defence Headquarters, the army, navy and air force got over N238bn in 2018 and 2019 to fight insecurity and implement their programmes and operations.

According to reports from the Budget Office of the Federation, THE PUNCH reported that the defence ministry, the DHQ and the three arms of the military budgeted over N316bn for its operations and programmes in the two years.

The Federal Government, however, released about N238bn which represents about 75 per cent of the appropriation.

According to the 2018 Budget Implementation Report, the Federal Government appropriated N157bn for capital projects and operations to the military and released N132bn.

Meanwhile, for the 2019 report, the government allocated a total of N159bn for the military’s capital projects and programmes; it later released N106.84bn.

These sums are different from the $1bn which the Federal Government approved from the Excess Crude Account to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East in December 2017.

It is not clear yet how and when the military got the monies, although part of the money was reportedly used to pay for the Super Tucano aircraft still being expected from the United States of America.

Meanwhile, the report did not highlight the Nigerian Army.

However, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, said few days ago that the military needed more funding and equipment to combat the raging insecurity in the country.

The Boko Haram terrorists and roaming bandits have intensified their fatal attacks since January 2020, killing many innocent persons, with the military appearing helpless to curtail the attacks.

Some of the military sources said the continual loss of troops to insurgents and bandits in the theatres of operation nationwide was forcing soldiers to embark on mass resignation, with the latest being on July 3 when no fewer than 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres disengaged from service, citing “loss of interest” as their reason.

These attacks have fuelled the calls for the President to sack the service chiefs so as to inject fresh ideas into the war against insecurity.

According to the Nigeria Security Tracker report by the Council on Foreign Relations, killings and violence across the country have been alarming since the beginning of the year.

Punch