… Calls for Larger Capital Projects for Army In 2021
Chairman Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, on Wednesday said the Nigerian Army is “grossly” underfunded by the Nigerian government.
Addressing journalists at the National assembly complex, Abuja after the budget defence by the Nigerian Army, Ndume said there is need for a significant increase in the budget for the Military while calling on authorities concerned to also make the fund available in time.
According to him the procurement process of Army takes longer time than other procurement circles in the budgetary system.
Senator Ndume who represents Borno South Senatorial District said monies meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition are not regularly released.
On the 2020 budget performance, Ndume said, only 64% of the budgetary allocation for 2020 was made available to the Nigerian Army.
In his words “In fact, on top of that, it was 50% that was released in July. The second batch of it was released this week.
“Nigeria is at war, the whole of Nigeria Army budget is about $1.3m. That’s at the level of Niger, Chad, Sudan and other poor countries”, Ndume said.
He said, even with the little budget being proposed by the executive, there was “no guarantee that this money will be released 100%” to the Army.
Ndume further stated that because of the problems of underfunding, bandits are now better equipped than the Army.
The lawmaker who had just rounded up an oversight tour on some Army establishments across the country with his Committee on Army observed that, “The difference between Nigerian Army and the bandits is that they (Army) are trained and also wear uniforms.
“Some of the bandits operate with AK49, the latest AKs, while the Army are still using AK47”.
He said bandits have devised means of getting the Army uniforms so they could disguise themselves as Nigeria’s military personnel.
Citing Section 14(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria “ the purpose of every government is security and welfare of the citizens”, he said “the budget of the country should principally tackle insecurity”.
