By Philip Nwosu
Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Alli Ndume, has said the Nigerian Army needs more funds to run its operations and to effectively combat the security challenges in the country.
Ndume, who spoke on behalf of the committee, said: “If we want to have good Nigerian Army, we have to allot more money to them to do what they are expected of.
“We are on the same page with the Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya, who had earlier called for more funding for the army. When the budget was presented to us, we looked at it and we’re surprised, especially that if the capital allocation to the Nigerian Army that is being implemented in this year’s (2021) budget was N29 billion, which we consider grossly inadequate, but to our surprise instead of increasing it in 2022 budget, it went down to N28 billion.
Ndume, who spoke during an over-sight function visit in Lagos, said: “Even the overhead of the Nigerian Army when compare to that of the Federal Government in the proposed 2022 budget, which is N6.83 trillion while that of the Nigerian Army that is fighting unconventional war in 32 states is N530 billion.”
He acknowledged that they have discussed it at a higher level and were going to do something.
“That is why the appropriation is before us. We cannot meet all the demands 100 percent, but for the priority, we will try to see what we can do to make sure we have the Nigerian Army.”
He said the oversight function visit was a follow-up to see for themselves what is on ground,saying: “We have gotten to a point now that there is a kind of disconnect with Nigerians and the Nigerian Army and the unconventional challenges you are facing.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Lawrence Fejokwu, who commended the committee forthevisit, said: “It is through your visit that you will have indisputable assessment of how things are.”
He said the division is lending its voice to chief of army staff, on the need to properly fund the army.