The Nigerian military will need a budget of not less than $6bn in three years to effectively tackle the growing security crises across the country, the Defence Headquarters has said.
According to the Director of Production, DHQ, Air Vice Marshall M. A. Yakubu, the country will have to budget not less than $2bn annually and consecutively for at least three years to be able to make the Armed Forces efficient.
He said N100bn additional fund for the Armed Forces was not enough.
Yakubu made this known in Abuja on Monday at a public hearing organised by the House Committee on Defence, on the Armed Forces Support Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2021.
The House had introduced the bill over the growing security crises across the country.
The bill seeks to “creatively make funds available through deductions from statutory receipts of the Federal Government as well as voluntary donations” for five years, subject to extension.
However, Yakubu stated the annual N100bn being projected to be an additional fund to the Armed Forces would still leave them underfunded.
The AVM said, “The last time – about two weeks ago, we had a brief discussion of what we intended to generate from this. We are estimating something in the range of N100bn per annum. Convert that to dollars because virtually all the equipment is imported. This will go nowhere! And it would not address the problem we are seeking to address unless we expand the sources.
Yakubu added, “If we are not able to raise a minimum of $2bn per annum in the next three years for a start, subsequently maybe we can begin to taper down the percentages; but for a start, we need a bulk sum because many of these manufacturers of equipment require 100 per cent down payment to even start production.
“So, you cannot sign a contract, for example with the US manufacturers, and pay 15 per cent mobilisation as required by the Procurement Act. Nobody will look at you. Their terms must be followed. Many times we are asked to pay 100 per cent. The example is the Super Tucano. This one is on government-to-government (basis). They insist on 100 per cent payment within 30 days. No budgetary allocation will fund that.”
The AVM noted that he was conversant with procurement and logistics in the military, with his experience of being a defence attaché with the United States from 2014 to 2017, Director of Procurement at the headquarters of the Nigerian Air Force for another two years, and Chief of Logistics also at the headquarters of the NAF for another two years.
He said, “Every year, how do we get our budget, capital budget specifically? An arbitrary envelope is simply thrown at us. This year, for example, your budget cap should be N20bn. It does not take into consideration what the actual needs are; what do you need to meet those needs? Now that is one.
“The next thing I want to talk about is the cost of equipment. Talking from the point of view of an Air Force officer who has been involved in procurement of equipment, let me give you an example: The procurement of the 12 Super Tucano aircraft cost approximately $500m. Now this is a package. The United States would not sell equipment to you and just give you the equipment there. There must be a support package for a minimum of three years. There must be training and other things. That total package came to that amount. How many years would it take you to budget (that amount)?”
Yakubu recalled that the highest amount that was received as capital allocation by the Nigerian Air Force, from 2017 to date, was about N44bn per annum.
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