Abubakar Badaru, the minister of defence, has pleaded with the National Assembly to give his ministry more funding for the 2024 fiscal year.
Badaru contended that the N1.57 trillion allotted was insufficient to deal with the security issues facing the nation.
He made this appeal on Wednesday when he appeared to present and defend the ministry’s 2024 budget plan before a joint committee of the National Assembly on Defence.
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Badaru emphasised that there were strong grounds for asking for an increase in the ministry’s budgetary allotment, including the rising cost of petrol and diesel and rising operating expenses.
The Ministry of Defence was given N1.15 trillion for personnel, N116.5 billion for overhead, and N308.2 billion for capital in the projected 2024 budget, for a total of N1.57 trillion.
The military minister did point out that this funding was insufficient to adequately address the nation’s insecurity.
“I appeal to the distinguished senators and honourable members to review the ministry’s budget given the prevailing economic situation to enable the ministry to function effectively.
“You are already aware of the inflationary trend and the cost of diesel, petrol, and operational costs. The overhead is very low, and we urge you to support us to see how we can improve our overhead,” he said.
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The minister stated that leaders of military units extensively use significant amounts of fuel and diesel to fulfill their official responsibilities.
He guaranteed that all allocated funds in the budget would be utilized prudently.
“Instead of fighting in one sector, the bandits or insurgents run into another sector, that was the intent of the supplementary budget, and we assure the senators that we will track this expenditure and make sure the monies appropriated will be utilized fully, and we will account appropriately”.
Ahmad Lawan, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, stressed that there would be no need to provide the ministry large sums of money until there was a noticeable improvement in national security.
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He emphasised the significance of determining how the allotted money improves national security.
“If you are given N100bn, how has it improved the security situation in the country? It will not augur well to appropriate money without justification,” he stated.
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