PUNCH NEWS
The Federal Government, as part of efforts to keep the nation secured, disbursed N231.27bn to procure arms and ammunition for security agencies and officers in four years, findings by The PUNCH have shown.
Despite the spending, security agencies have maintained that the budgeted amount cannot sufficiently avert numerous security challenges in the country.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, appearing before the House of Representatives alongside other security chiefs justified the huge budget for arms purchases, noting that because Nigeria is not a manufacturer of military hardware, arms were purchased in dollars, which made the huge budget insignificant, considering the value of the naira.
He said, “We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items. All the items we procured, were bought with hard currency, none in naira. Most times when funds are released, by the time you turn these funds into dollars, they can only get us very little.
“For example, during the last regime, about $1bn was set aside for defence procurements. Out of that amount, over $600m was for the procurement of the aircraft. So the whole money had gone.
“For any ammunition we buy, we buy it in dollars and we spend in millions. So, many times, when people see that funds are being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars, you do not get so much.
“One precision missile for our drone costs $5,000; so imagine how many we would be able to use and how many we can procure. Those are the challenges,” he said…
