Insecurity: Reps move to increase N50bn defence budget

The House of Representatives Committee on Defence says it will increase the N50 billion budgeted for the Ministry of Defence in 2025 to enable it fight insecurity. The committee made the decision following the adoption of a motion by a member, Philip Agbese, who commended the military for their efforts when the Minister of State […]

The House of Representatives Committee on Defence says it will increase the N50 billion budgeted for the Ministry of Defence in 2025 to enable it fight insecurity.

The committee made the decision following the adoption of a motion by a member, Philip Agbese, who commended the military for their efforts when the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, appeared to defend the Ministry’s budget for 2025.

Earlier, the minister had lamented the inadequacy of the funds provided for the Ministry in the 2025 budget proposal.

Matawalle said the sum of N50 billion allocated for the Ministry in the 2025 budget was inadequate and appealed for an upward review.

He assured that with adequate funding, the problem of banditry will be addressed in two months.

He said, “We have some challenges. One, we have an inadequate budgetary provision. The headquarters and civilian personnel unit are unable to meet their obligations resulting in the accumulation of debt on services and staff entitlement.

“We have non-payment and accumulated bills of group life Insurance, which is very important. The very important issues that we have is non-payment and accumulated bills of group life insurance for military personnel, which I requested from the committee for consideration of maybe the sum of 20 billion as additional funds for payment of families of deceased military personnel. That is one of our challenges.

“Mr. Chairman, if you look at the budget of 2024, most of the barracks, the allocation we met is zero. How do we expect the personnel of the military to perform while their living standard is inadequate? All the provisions that we made, the allocation in 2024 is zero. And these are the people that we expect them to perform magic.

“And for us in the ministry, we have a lot of challenges. Look at the budget of 2025, just N50 billion. We have a shortfall of N18 billion in the last year’s budget and people expect the ministry to do wonders.

“In fact, the Ministry of Defence is supposed to provide some equipment for some of the zones, but we cannot. Out of what we have in 2024, we were able to provide just 20 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs).

“What can 20 APCs do? In Katsina alone, if we are able to have 50 APCs, that can go inside bush to flush out those criminals, I assure you, within two months, we’ll finish the issue of banditry. But there is no provision for that. People have been complaining that money is being given to defence but this is what we have. And people are expecting us to do extra things out of the budget.”

He however said that promised that despite the limited resources, the ministry and the personnel were doing their best to ensure the safety of all citizens.

Chairman of the Committee, Rep Babajimi Benson, said the importance of the defence sector cannot be overstated as it is the backbone of the nation’s security architecture, tasked with addressing diverse threats that challenge our peace and stability.

He said over the years, the Armed Forces of Nigeria had demonstrated remarkable commitment and professionalism, achieving significant progress in countering insurgency, terrorism, banditry and other forms of insecurity.