Nigeria’s defense policy expires Since 2005, CSO Alleges

The conflict advisor of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CSLAC), Salahudeen Hashim, yesterday called for the review of Nigeria’s defense policy.

Hashim alleged that the nation’ s defense policy had expired since 2005. He spoke during a North Central summit on ‘Strengthening accountability in the Nigeria’s defense sector, organised by his Centre in collaboration with Transparency International and Global Affairs Canada in Ilorin, Kwara state.

Hashim described the level of suffering of Nigerian soldiers as worrisome, adding that their welfare package is not encouraging
He called for more transparency in procurement process in the nation’s defense sector, calling on the National Assembly to review the 2007 Procurement Act to cover the defense sector.

Hashim said, “We have seen that the situation in the country is currently worrisome. We need to ask why the country is not committed to reviewing its defense policy.

It is a strong document that should provide strategic direction. Yes, we have the National Security Strategy but we feel that it is not sufficient.

We need a defense policy that should be able to chart a course for the entire defense system to ensure that the larger society is protected.

“The defense policy has a five year life span, after it expired in 2005, a committee to review it was put together, they worked but there was no political support to that particular review.

That is where the concern lies. For a country that is currently going through a situation like this, we thought that one of the priorities of the political decision makers, particularly security decision makers should be the review of that particular policy.

“But unfortunately, we are not seeing that happening. That also begins to question around the issue of conflict entrepreneurs. Are there people who are benefiting from conflicts in Nigeria?

Are there people who believe that the more conflict we have, the more available resources that is at their disposal. These are the critical questions that we need at ask.”

Also speaking, the Convener of Good Governance Team, Tunde Salman, raised the alarm that there were signals that the Boko Haram insurgents are regrouping.

He also stated that despite the huge allocation for defense and security there had not been commensurate result in terms of security of lives and property in the country.

While praising the efforts of security agencies at making Nigeria safe, he said there is the need to pay more attention on how scare public resources are being spent in the sector.

Salman said, “It is a great concern that in spite of the huge spending for security, there is still insecurity in Nigeria.

That is why we ent to interrogate whether corruption is a by-product of insecurity. Despite the humongous amount of money that has gone into the security sector, we have seen that the more you pump money, the more we have insecurity.

That means there may be something that is not clear to the public.

“Part of the challenge is the close system among security spending. Because of concerns over national security issues, a lot of things that ordinarily should be in the purvey of public procurement Act are secluded.

That is why it is important for the national assembly to fast-track the amendment of the review of the amendment of Public Procurement Act.”

Kehinde Akinpelu, Ilorin