2022: Army’s budget slash will hinder anti-terror war – COAS

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Faruk Yahaya, on Wednesday, urged the National Assembly to prevail on the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to exempt the army from the envelope budgeting system.  

Yahaya, while appearing before the Senate Committee on Army to defend the army’s 2022 budget proposal, said the envelope budgeting had been a major challenge to the army.

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He said the army had proposed N710bn for the 2022 fiscal year, but the finance ministry reduced it to N579bn. 

Yahaya said: “This reduction would impede the capacity and tempo of the Nigerian Army in carrying out its constitutional duties particularly the ongoing war against Boko Haram terrorists and other criminalities across the country.”

He urged the committee to approve for the army, N642.7bn for personnel emolument; N29.6bn for overhead and N37.6bn for capital in 2022. 

He also appealed to the National Assembly to cause the finance ministry to begin the release of its 2022 capital allocation in the first quarter of next year.

This, he said, would help the army to rehabilitate dilapidated accommodations in over 138 barracks and training facilities across units and formations as well as procure the needed equipment and platforms to prosecute the war against terrorism and other criminalities across the country.

While reiterating the army’s commitment to ridding the country of Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal groups, he said timely and complete implementation of the 2022 budget would enable the army to fulfil its mandate.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Ali Ndume, said the budgetary allocation to the army was grossly inadequate. 

He also faulted the system of ceiling the budgetary allocation of security agencies in a country battling acute insecurity, saying, “there’s no price tag for peace.” 

“You need to give the military what they need because there’s no price tag for peace. We’re going to look at their requirements and treat the budget accordingly,” he said.