Insecurity: Nigerian Senate Rejects Proposal To Ensure Defence Funds Are Spent Correctly

During a plenary session on July 3, 2024, members of the National Assembly rejected a motion urging the Senate Committee on Army and Air Force to ensure defence funds are spent for security purposes instead of non-essential spending.

The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army and current Chief Whip of the Upper Chamber, Senator Ali Ndume, moved the motion titled, “Suicide Attacks in Gwoza, Borno State: The Urgency to Stem the Tide of This Ugly Menace,” in respect of the Gwoza female bombing in Borno State, which killed many people and injured several others.

This motion prompted a response from Senator Adams Oshiomhole of the Edo North Senatorial District.

According to Oshiomhole, these funds can be used to purchase standard military-grade weapons and technology to protect the country as a sovereign nation against external or internal security threats.

“Some past security chiefs established universities, not teaching anything about security. The Navy even bought a yacht,” Oshiomhole alleged while maintaining the view that banditry and insurgency would have been successfully fought if the money had been spent on modern technology and scientific equipment currently used to fight criminality worldwide.

Oshiomhole’s Full Statement

“The Senate Committee on the Army and Air Force should ensure that we not only provide more money to the armed forces but also guide jealously what they use to procure. This is because,  under the supervision and oversight of this National Assembly, previous service chiefs had spent money to build universities in their various communities.

“Those are the resources that should be used to procure modern technology. And to think that money will be diverted to non-essentials. And as we speak, those institutions are not teaching anything about security. They are just another glorified university.

“I think that this House has the power to appropriate. We should focus strictly on the items the Army, the Air Force, and other security agencies will spend money on. Otherwise, everybody knows we need modern technology.

“We must assist them to redirect their procurement policies to focus on the technology. Otherwise, we can decline to approve appropriation if the details are not such that those managing the system will use the money strictly in a manner that will do justice to our collective feeling about redirecting and moving more and more towards technology,” Oshiomhole said.

However, regardless of the significance of the motion, most senators voted against it, leaving many Nigerians perturbed by the glaring cause of insecurity in the country.

Read more: Lagos Police To Investigate Alleged Rape Of Teenage Girl By Officer Inside Station

About The Author

Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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