The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has blamed failure of Jonathan
administration to provide equipment and supplies to the military for the
spread of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East
He made the statement on Thursday at the graduation of Cadets of 63rd
Regular Course of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna.
Osinbajo, who was the special guest at the graduation, said that the
failure resulted to the death of over 20, 000 people with over two
million displaced and more than 75, 000 children orphaned.
He expressed regret that several billions of dollars meant for procurement
of arms and ammunition to prosecute the war were cornered by few persons.
“This has left the region with one of the worst humanitarian crisis,’’ he
added. The VP commended the military for defeating the terrorists and for
the sacrifices it made to defend the nation.
He said that the fastest way for Nigeria to get out of the current
recession was for militant groups in the Niger Delta to stop bombing oil
pipelines.
He said that the activities of the militants had adversely affected crude
oil output which had dropped from 2.2 million barrels per day to below 1
million barrels per day.
Osinbajo said the destruction had also affected the revenue accruing to
the country by 60 per cent.
While comparing the 2008/2009 recession in United States with Nigeria’s,
the VP said Nigeria’s recession was caused by massive corruption, lack of
saving and destruction of oil pipelines.
133 cadets, including 17 female cadets, were for the first time awarded
first degree certificates in various discipline at the occasion. One
hundred and twenty seven (127) cadets were awarded master’s degree while
14 cadets bagged doctorate degree.
Three prominent Nigerians, Prof. Grace Alele-Willaims, former Vice
Chancellor, Uniben; Maj.-Gen. Paul Tarfa (rtd), ex-military Administrator
of Old Oyo state and business mongul, Dr Innocent Chukwuma, were conferred
with honorary doctorate degree.