The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, on Tuesday urged the National Assembly to pass the Armed Forces of Nigeria Trust Fund Bill pending before it.
He made the call during the defence of the Army’s N600 billion 2023 budget estimates and presentation of the performance of its 2022 budget.
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Yahaya said the passage of the bill would help improve the operations of the Nigerian Army through improved funding.
He also called for a review of the current ‘envelope system’ of budgeting which he said leads to inadequate funding of the Nigerian Army.
“The Nigerian Army is implementing the Nigerian Army Order of Battle 2026 in phases. This has led to the expansion of the Nigerian Army from five to eight division force structure.
“Consequently, the Nigerian Army battle field in the centre and other operational commands were established to effectively provide security for our citizens.
“I must state without mincing words that the expansion of the Nigerian Army has continued to impact significantly on the human resources and lean finances available to the Nigerian Army,” he said.
The House of Representatives has asked the the Chairman House Committee on Army, Abdulrasak Namdaz, to consolidate on its gains in the fight against insecurity by restrategising to ultimately defeat the enemies of the Nigerian state.
He noted that the welfare of personnel of the Nigerian Army should be given topmost priority and never compromised to enable the army to tackle the nation’s security challenges effectively.
According to him, the committee was aware of the challenges confronting the army, especially the issue of funding.
He said in recent years, the legislature had worked to improve and sustain the budgetary provision of the army from the budgeted N463 billion in 2020 to N509 billion in 2021 and N589 billion in 2022.
Namdaz added that the 2023 budget proposal of the Nigerian Army, now under consideration, is about N600 billion and called for judicious application of the provision.
