Army Says Its Too Broke To Fight Boko Haram

Source: pointblanknews.com

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.”