Nigerian Government has described
the criticisms trailing the approval of $1bn for the fight against insurgency
and other violent crimes in the country as unnecessary and unhelpful.
Minister of Information, Culture
and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at a news conference in Lagos, said the
Nigerian Governor’s Forum acted wisely in approving the fund from the Excess
Crude Account based on the need to properly fund security operations in the
country to adequately respond to threats by Boko Haram and other criminals.
Mohammed pointed out that the
approved fund was not to fight Boko Haram in the North East alone but also to
tackle kidnapping, cattle rustling, illegal oil bunkering and other crimes.
He expressed dismay that an
action intended to make the country safer had been subjected to attacks by
people with ulterior motives.
“There has been an unnecessary,
uninformed and highly-partisan criticism of the one billion dollars which was
recently approved by the Nigeria Governors Forum for the military to tackle the
security challenges facing the country, including Boko Haram, illegal oil
bunkering, kidnapping and cattle rustling.
“I said unnecessary and
uninformed because everyone knows the role the military is playing in helping
to tackle the numerous security crisis facing the states, much less the war
against Boko Haram.
“The fact that Boko Haram has
been largely degraded does not mean the war is over. As we have said times
without number, asymmetric wars like the one against Boko Haram do not end with
an armistice.
“It is, therefore, curious that
some of those who have criticised the $1bn approval have hinged their argument
on the fact that the Boko Haram has been degraded.
“Perhaps also, the critics do not
know that fighting an asymmetric war is costlier than fighting a conventional
war. In any case, wars, especially the war against terror, are never fought
with budgetary provisions.
“It is common knowledge that the
annual budgetary allocation to the military is not commensurate with the
internal security challenges we face, for which we have had to continuously
rely on the military to assist the police and the Civil Defence Corps.
“When insurgents take over a
chunk of our nation’s territory, we turn to the military. When the
farmers/herders clash escalate, we turn to the military. When kidnappers up
their game, we turn to the military, when illegal bunkerers and pipeline
vandals are seeking to overwhelm our oil production and export, we turn to the
military,
“When ethno-religious clashes
occur, we turn to the military. But when it is time to give the military the
resources it needs to function, we say it is a waste of scarce resources. We
come up with spurious reasons to deny the military its due.
“The Nigeria Governors Forum
acted wisely in approving the withdrawal of one billion dollars from the Excess
Crude Account to fight Boko Haram and other security challenges in the country.
“The one billion dollars is not
too much to fight our security challenges. Afterall, security of lives and
property is at the core of the existence of any government, and the NGF
understands this quite well, going by its action in approving the withdrawal
from the ECA”, he said.
Further justifying the approval,
the Mohammed said military operations in the North East cost the country a lot
of money.
He said the aircraft being used
for the war, including fighter jets and helicopters altogether consumed
64,021.08 litres of fuel per day amounting to N15.153m daily to fuel the
aircraft.
The minister said that spares for
the aircraft from January to November 2017 cost a total of N20,019m while
consumables for the aircraft, and here I am talking of engine oil, plugs etc,
amounted to N 3.86m monthly.
Mohammed said that between
November 5th to December 17th, the amount spent on ammunition was over $5m.
“Since we are using the air force
as a reference point here, what about the cost of acquiring air force
platforms? For example, the twelve Super Tuscano aircraft recently approved for
sale to Nigeria by the US Government costs a whopping $490m, yet this is
Government to Government contract and the costs of spares, ammunition and other
consumables are not included.
“The costs stated above are for
the air force alone and restricted to operations in the North East alone.
“We have not even talked of the
army or the navy, which are also fully involved in tackling internal security
challenges in the country. Neither have we included the operating cost of the
Nigerian Air Force in the Niger Delta to curb pipeline vandalism, in the North
West to contain cattle rustlers, in the North Central to curtail herdsmen and
farmers clashes or kidnappings, armed robberies and separatism in other parts
of the country,” the minister said.
Mohammed said there was nothing
wrong in the opposition offering constructive criticism as democracy allowed
freedom of expression.
He, however, said freedom of
expression was not a licence for anyone to distort facts, engage in crass
sensationalism or bring partisanship to every issue, especially that concerned
security of the nation.
The minister said those who
viewed this one billion-dollar approval by the NGF from the prism of
partisanship were wrong, cautioning that the military was arguably undoubtedly
the most national of the country’s institutions and hence should not be dragged
into partisanship.
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