The Nigerian Army says it is financially incapacitated to engage in a war
against the Boko Haram insurgency, according to the Army Head of Budget
and Account, Major General Abdullahi Muraina in a Press Statement.
General Muraina said it has become imperative and urgent for the Army’s
finances to be reviewed to enable it to rise to the challenges of
combating the Boko Haram insurgency.
The Defence budget in that last three years was over N3 Trillion.
Lagos lawyer and member of the National Conference, Mr Femi Falana (SAN),
had recently said the conference should adopt a resolution mandating the
Federal Government to investigate the over N3 trillion voted for Defence
in the last three years.
The Press Statement reads:
“Currently, budgetary allocation for the military is inadequate to meet
the contemporary security challenges and also cater for the welfare of the
Nigerian Army. The Nigerian Army is enmeshed in the bureaucratic
bottlenecks for the funding approvals for military operations. This calls
for a review as the increasing speed at which the effects of conflict
appear in the operational environment will continue to challenge
commanders.
“It is our humble appeal that [the] government should evolve other means
of funding and supporting military operations than the normal budgetary
allocation. Such means include but not limited to strategic cooperation
and liaison with other civil industries for the production of uniforms and
other equipment.
“We are not oblivious of the constraint on revenue generation and the fact
that [the] government has so many other responsibilities, but we are
appealing to the government to review the current template of funding of
the military, considering the current security challenges.
“For instance, the army budget for this year is just N4.8 billion.
Assuming we committed 20,000 troops to the Northeast operations, the
jacket and helmet is in the average of about $1,000. If you change that to
naira, it is about N150, 000. If you now have about 20,000 troops, this
means that they are going to spend about $20 million and that is about N3
billion.
“N3 billion as a percentage of N4.8 billion which is the capital budget
for this year is more than 50 per cent and that is just one item. We are
not talking about uniforms, boots or structures where they will stay. We
are not talking about training, because training is key to enhancing the
capability of the force.”