Nigeria Military Cannot Fight Insurgency Because 88% Of Budget Is For Salary – Group

A non-governmental organisation, Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative (GOPRI) has appealed to the National Assembly to increase allocation to the Nigerian Army in the 2020 Budget pending before it for passage.

The group in an open letter to the legislature, explained that its appeal was predicated on the need for the army to extensively and rapidly execute the war against terrorism and insurgency in the North East.

The letter to the parliament through the Senate President,Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and signed by its Executive Director, Amb. Melvin Ejeh, on Tuesday in Abuja titled:”The 2020 Appropriation Bill and Implications of Poor Allocation to Defence on Nigeria’s Security “,the group particularly explained that its case for the army was because the army had large share of the responsibility on terrorism war.

Ejeh noted that the group is worried that the performance of the Defence budget has been poor due to deliberate withholding of funds from the Federal Ministry of Finance as well as the failure of funding defence related projects that will ensure our Armed Forces are well situated to discharge their duties effectively.

The group said: “From our critical and in-depth analyses of the 2020 Defence allocation, we have found out that about 88 percent of the amount and 11 percent are to service recurrent and capital expenditure respectively.

“We,without mincing words,consider this 11.3 percent to be negligible especially for a critical sector like Defence, expected to be injected into capital expenditure, comprising several equipment purchases, training, logistics and operations costs to sustain the operations where the military is deployed nationwide.

“Nigerian military needs to regain its place in the international peacekeeping arena by purchasing its contingent owned equipment needed for deployment. The reimbursement from these peacekeeping operations are also enormous foreign exchange earning for the country.”

The letter reads in part:”Our open letter to you at this time is predicated on the 2020 Appropriation Bill, before the National Assembly which you head as Chairman.

“You would recall that the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces,President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR had on Tuesday, October 8, presented the 2020 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly to consider for passage. The N10.33 trillion Bill comprises N4.88 trillion recurrent expenditure and N2.14 trillion capital expenditure.

“Out of this amount,the entire Defence,comprising the Ministry of Defence, Defence Headquarters, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force,the Nigerian Navy and all the parastatals under the ministry,is allocated the sum of N878,458,607,427.

“Of the total allocation, however, the recurrent expenditure stood at N778,589,343,660, representing 88.63 per cent while the capital expenditure is N99,869,263,767, representing 11.37 per cent. In the recurrent expenditure, however, the total personnel cost, comprising salaries, wages, allowances and others, is put at N722,383,830,531 billion, while the overhead cost for travels, transport, training, materials and services, is N56,205,513,129.

“The remaining N99bn capital expenditure would, therefore, be used for the purchase of defence equipment, sea boats, rehabilitation of dilapidated barracks across the six geo-political zones, procurement of ammunition, purchase of operational vehicles, logistical requirement among other things needed to fight insecurity and defend the Nigerian territory. This to say the least is nothing near a drop in the ocean considering the many operations and even training requirements of the armed forces of Nigeria.

“For example, the Nigerian Army, which got the highest allocation under the Defence Ministry, would get a total of N438.23 billion. While N424.03bn of the sum goes to recurrent expenditure, comprising N408.40bn for personnel cost, salaries, allowances, and wages, and N15.63bn for overhead cost, while only N14bn was budgeted for capital expenditure. A look at the Nigerian Air Force, which got the second highest share in the ministry has its total allocation as N137.87 billion.

“Out of this, N109.51 billion was for recurrent expenditure, comprising N8.85bn overhead cost and N100.66bn personnel cost (for salaries, wages, allowances, etc), while a paltry N28.36bn is budgeted for capital expenditure.

“The N28 billion is expected to be used for the purchase of defence equipment, procurement of various small arms and ammunition, purchase of various aircraft and their spares, support equipment and their spares, part payment for procurement of three thunder aircraft, part payment for periodic depot maintenance of four aircraft, among others.

“On its part, the Nigerian Navy, which got the third highest share of the ministry’s allocation, the total allocation was N131.69 billion out of which N114.50 billion was allocated for recurrent expenditure, comprising N106.76 billion personnel cost (salaries, wages, allowances, etc) and N7.74 billion overhead cost. Here, N17.19 billion was budgeted for capital expenditure, specifically for the procurement of helicopters, landing ship tank, hydro survey ship, inshore patrol craft, construction of barracks and the development of Naval War College, among others.

“In this submission, we have clearly seen that the chunk of the recurrent expenditure would go into personnel cost, comprising salaries, wages, allowances and social contributions, while such meagre amount goes into capital expenditure! This,we believe, may compel the security agencies to make part payments or unable to pay for some very vital security items they would have used to fight insecurity. This could further reverse the gains achieved so far in the ongoing war against insecurity in the country.

“Sir, there might also be need to recruit more personnel to deploy in to the conflict areas. This is because we have observed that the military is stretched by a number of security issues nationwide, ranging from terrorism and insurgency in the North-East to,armed cross-border banditry and kidnapping in the North West,herdsmen/farmers conflicts, pipeline vandalism as well as cruel oil theft bedeviling the country in the southern part of the country.

“As we await the National Assembly, comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives to do the needful as regards its passage to fulfill the purpose for which it was fashioned out,we are disheartened that the allocation for the Nigerian Armed Forces,is grossly insufficient for a nation facing complex and multidimensional insecurity concerns across the national space.

“It is disheartening to note that the entire budget of the entire Armed Forces is N878,458,607,427.This,we view from a positive dimension, is negligibly low for a military that is currently prosecuting a war and needed modern equipment and weaponry to achieve its objectives. Respected senators should please observe that there is no better time for the need of more and urgent funding than now.

“Allocating this amount to the military at the time Nigeria is still faced with war situation is grossly insufficient. For this,we appeal that the National Assembly should within its powers increase the current Defence budget or approve alternative means to fund our military, especially the Nigerian Army in this critical time. This is because the nation relies heavily on the Army for both internal and territorial security as well as international engagements.”