A non-political pressure group, Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative, (GOPRI), has appealed to the National Assembly to increase the allocation to the Nigerian Army in the 2020 Budget.
In an open letter, signed by its Executive Director, Amb. Melvin Ejieh, the organisation stated that its appeal was hinged on the need to avail enough funds for the Army to execute the war against terrorism and insurgency in the North East.
The letter which was written through the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,Femi Gbajabiamila entitled:”The 2020 Appropriation Bill and implications of Poor Allocation to Defence on Nigeria’s Security “,the group particularly explained that its support for the Army was because it has the largest share of the responsibility on the terrorism war.
According to the letter, “from our critical and indepth 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 made available to journalists in Abuja, added further that, “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”.