“PROBE DEFENCE SPENDING NOW”

“PROBE DEFENSE SPENDING NOW”

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

The Nigerian government have been urged to probe the defense spending in the last four years.

In an exclusive chart in Lagos,Nigeria,The Executive Director of the Center For  Demilitarization and Constitutionalism, Mr Lucky Irene Akhaine said that he was devastated about the fact that the Nigerian leadership was p[laying with fire  

He explained to this reporter that he was surprised that after taking the larger chunk of the budget ‘he was surprised that there have been stories flying all over the public space of an ill equipped military .

He affirmed that if this trend was not nipped in the bud then corruption which has always been a Nigerian problem will eventually consumed  the nation.

He wondered why the state has not began legal proceedings against Former Governor Modu Sherrriff of Bornu State and military chieftains that were recently indicted by an Australian clergy who was a lead negotiator in the on-going Boko Haram crisis.

Out of a total budget of N4.962 trillion, the allocation to the defence sector took about N968.127 billion.

The Federal Government of Nigeria recently  released to the public the 2014 budget approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Presenting the approved figures in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said out of a total budget of N4.962 trillion, the allocation to the defence sector took about 20 per cent, totalling N968.127 billion because of the growing insecurity situation in the country.

Out of the total provision for the sector, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said between January and April, government had disbursed about N130.7 billion to relevant authorities, including the army, navy, air force, police, and civil defence.

Of the disbursed figure, about N85.9 billion was to take care of the personnel costs of the agencies, which was handed to the military authorities for direct payment to their personnel.

Nigerian Air Force Mi-24D Hind (aka Mi-25) attack helicopter showing a nose-mounted quad-barreled 12.7mm HMG COURTESY:www.beegeagle'sblog.wordpress