N100bn defence budget: FG not ready to eliminate Boko Haram – Senate

.Wants more funds for military to prosecute war against insurgents

.Asks FG to declare state of emergency on federal roads

Counterfeit naira notes rose to 358,658 pieces in 3 years–CBN

The Senate has slammed the Federal Government of unseriousness in ending the insurgency war that has ravaged the North East with the allocation of N100 billion to the defence sector in the 2020 budget.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume while speaking with Senate correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, lamented that the defence allocation is less than one percent of the N10.33 trillion total budget for 2020.

With such paltry percentage of the nation’s total appropriation, he said government can hardly satisfy its uppermost constitutional duty of securing lives and properties of the citizenry.

He said: “We are in a war. When you are in a war situation and you are budgeting 10.3 trillion naira and you are allocating less than one per cent to defence, that does not show that you are serious about it.”

Ndume said government’s allocation of lion share of the budget to infrastructure will be meaningless if the nation is not secured.

The Senator representing Borno South said though the Nigerian military is one of the best in the world professionally but it is understaffed and underfunded.

He expressed worries that there are about 30, 000 soldiers in the Nigerian Army with 6, 000 officers in a country of about 200 million population while Egypt, a smaller nation of 80 million population has about a million military capacity.

The senator was of the opinion that if the Nigerian armed forces are properly funded, the insurgency war would have been eliminated under three months.

He suggested to the government to divert expected differential income from sales of oil from the benchmarked $55 per barrel to $57 per barrel.

The committee chairman, who relayed experience of the committee members at the war front in the Northeast recently, commended the dedication of the Nigerian troops some of whom have paid the supreme price.

“The commitment of the Armed forces to this country is unparalleled to none. For the conditions they find themselves and still decide to sacrifice their lives for the country – is commendable”, he said

He said from the visit, it was obvious that the Nigerian military lack adequate equipment, kits and tools to effectively prosecute the insurgency war.

The Senate Committee chairman on Army said if the helicopters requested to be at the battalion base in Borno State is approved, it will aid the ground troops in routing the insurgents.

Senator Ndume also corrected the notion that there are mass graves for burial of fallen heroes.

He said information gathered from the Nigeria army cemetery in Borno State had it that just over eight hundred soldiers have so far lost their lives and buried in the cemetery since 2013 till now.

“That is from 2013 till date. And just so you know they have cemeteries elsewhere where they burry victims. But, that allegation that there is mass burial is not true. Nigerians don’t do that. Nigerian army will never do that”, he said.

He informed that Senate is still investigating allegation that some Non-governmental organisations are aiding Boko Haram, while he pleaded with the Nigeria media to dig more into the issue to unravel the truth.

“Another area that the Senate will look into is the allegation that the various NGOs in that area are conniving with the insurgents – providing them information, logistics and so many things.

“I have been critical about this and people have told me to be careful but it has come out now that one or two of the so-called NGOs operating there are actually aiding and abetting and supporting the insurgents but we will do an investigation and we will hear if we have the evidence.”, he stated.

In another development, the Senate has asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on federal roads as result of the deplorable conditions of road networks across the country.

The upper chamber also mandated its Committee on FERMA, Petroleum Down Stream and National Planning to investigate the non -remittance of the 5 per cent user charge pump price of petrol and international vehicle transit charge accruing to FERMA and other established state road maintenance agencies.

These resolutions followed deliberations on a motion moved by Sen. Geshom Bassey (Cross River South) who lamented the deplorable state of federal roads.

Bassey on Tuesday came under Senate order 42 and 52 of the Senate rule to present his motion during plenary.

The Senate was concerned that several thousands of lives have been lost to road accidents due to bad and unmotorable roads, while bad portions of roads are safe haven for kidnappers and armed robbers on Nigerian highways.

Supporting the motion, Sen. Chukwuka Utazi (PDP-Enugu North), said the state of the federal highways are highly deplorable and that urgent attention is needed especially within this budget cycle to do something drastic to address the situation.

Utazi said: “Mr. President, the rainy season is just gradually coming to an end and this is the opportunity for FERMA to go and start rehabilitating our roads so that Nigerians can move freely.

“This period is also the time for harvest and in order to ensure that farmers that are in the hinterland get to the appropriate market to get adequate prices for their goods, we have to make sure the roads are properly done.

“You also know that because we don’t have the rail lines that should be in place, most of the goods and services that we move from one place to the other are done through trucking and if you continue to do trucking, you know that the life span of any major federal highway may not last long.

“This is a very important motion moved at the most appropriate time to get the desired attention and I’m standing here lending my support and full weigh to get that being done knowing fully well that those of us from the south east are the major complainants of the bad roads in this country and we hope that we get the desired attention from FERMA if this motion scales through”.

In his comment, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said he believes that every part of the country suffers from this problem of deplorable roads.

He expressed optimism that the committees mandated to look into the matter will swing into action and attend to the issue associated with this motion.