Chairman of Senate Committee on Army and Senator representing Borno South Senatorial district, Ali Ndume on lamented the inadequacy of budgetary allocation to the Nigerian Army, saying the development in a war situation has made terrorists more equipped than the Nigerian Army.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the budget defence on Wednesday by the Nigerian Army in National Assembly, Ndume insisted thatthe bandits are more equipped than the Army.
The lawmaker 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 even the bandits have devised means of getting the Army uniforms so they could disguise themselves as Nigeria’s military personnel.
He lamented the irregularity nof fund releases procuring arms and ammunition, saying efforts of. Nigerian Army at tackling Insurgency has been put at jeopardy.
Talking about 2020 budget performance, Ndume said, “The money that was supposed to be given to them to buy equipments, buy arms and ammunitions, procure certain kitting for them, only 64% of that money was released”.
“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.
Ndume worried that, even the little budget being proposed by the executive, there was “no guarantee that this money will be released 100%” to the Army.
The lawmaker, therefore proposed a significant increase in the budget for the Military, while calling on authorities concerned to also make the fund available on time, saying, the procurement process of Army takes longer time than other procurement circles in the budgetary system.
Ndume said, “Section 14(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria says, the purpose of every government is security and welfare of the citizens”, stressing that, the budget of the country should principally tackle insecurity.
