The federal government has proposed the N575.6 billion in its supplementary budget to boost the fight against insecurity and prosecute the ongoing anti-insurgency war.
Politics Nigeria reports that a total of N184.25 billion was approved for the purchase of military equipment, arms and ammunition.
This latest figure was contained in the N2.18 trillion supplementary budget for the 2023 fiscal year approved by the Federal Executive Council on Monday.
The Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces have been allocated over N147.03 billon to upscale internal operations against Haram, bandits, kidnappers and other anti-insurgency wars.
Of the eight military and defence agencies allocated the total sum, the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Navy will get N211.5 billion, N112.2 billion and N62.8 billion, respectively. The three forces got the largest chunk of the military budget.
Out of this amount, recurrent expenditure will gulp over N245.1 billion and capital expenditure, N329.99 billion.
Speaking at the end of this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Villa, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, said the budget is to “fund urgent issues including national defence and security.”
“N605bn for national defence and security is to sustain the gains made in security and to accelerate and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out,” he said.
The document stated that N49.99 billion was allocated to the Ministry of Defence, out of which N33.6 billion was given as recurrent and N16.4 billion as capital.
Out of the Nigerian Army’s N211.5 billion, recurrent got N116.3 billion while N95.2 billion will go to capital expenditure. Also, N49.04 billion was earmarked for the Department of State Services.
Prominent among the capital projects of the Nigerian Army is the purchase of arms and ammunition, including the refurbishment and up-gunning/upgrade of 155mm self-propelled Howitzer Palmaria, artillery guns at the cost of N27.1bn, arms, ammunition and ancillary equipment for the Nigerian Navy at N8.92bn.
The Nigerian Air Force, which is also acquiring aircraft arms and ammunition budgeted N80.48 billion.
The Department of State Services also listed N36.99 billion for the acquisition of an IMSI catcher upgraded version at N1.19 billion, MMG556 at the cost of N5.96 billion, AK Alpha Rifle at N1.40 billion, RPG 7V2 (40MM) at the cost of N1.53 billion.
Other security agencies including the Ministry of Defence, the Nigerian Navy and Police got N7.5bn, N11.93bn, and N20.33bn respectively.
Our correspondent also observed that N31.59bn was budgeted to boost the morale of security officers in the form of allowances and severance packages.
This follows reports that 186 security operatives in the country have paid the supreme price while carrying out their duties in the country between January and September 2023.
The security operatives including personnel of the military, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Police Force paid the ultimate price while fighting crime in Zamfara, Niger, Borno, Delta, Imo, Anambra, Benue, and Enugu states, among others.
The government approved payment of N1.13bn for the insurance of the Nigerian Police Force critical assets for 2021/2022 policy, security debarment allowance for 37 and 38 regular courses at the cost of N18bn, N5bn was approved for the payment of outstanding group life assurance to the deceased for personnel from year 2011 to 2023 while N795m was appropriated for the burial expenses of deceased officers between August 2021 and March 2023 amongst other welfare packages.
