The Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, has urged the National Assembly to consider augmenting his ministry’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year.
He asserted that the current allocation of N1.57 trillion is insufficient to effectively address the prevailing insecurity in the country.
This appeal was made during the minister’s appearance before a joint National Assembly Committee on Defence, where he presented and defended the ministry’s budget proposal for the upcoming year.
Badaru emphasized that the escalating costs of operations, coupled with the recent surge in diesel and fuel prices, necessitate a revisitation of the ministry’s budget allocation.
In the proposed 2024 budget, the Ministry of Defence was earmarked N1.15 trillion for personnel, N116.5 billion for overhead, and N308.2 billion for capital expenditures, amounting to a total of N1.57 trillion. However, the defence minister contends that this allocation falls short of the resources required to effectively combat the prevailing insecurity challenges.
“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.
The minister said heads of military units consume large quantities of fuel and diesel to carry out their official duties.
He assured that all funds appropriated in the budget would be judiciously utilised.
“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”.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, Ahmad Lawan, said there would be no justification for huge budgetary allocation for the ministry if there was no improvement in security across the country.
He said it was paramount to establish how the money allocated to the ministry improved 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.
