The Convener, Save Nigeria Group, Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare, on Sunday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the immediate restructuring of the military if his administration wants to record victory in the ongoing battle against insurgency in Nigeria.
Bakare, who is also the General Overseer, The Latter Rain Assembly, made the call in Lagos, during his state of the nation broadcast, titled, “The Prophetic Portrait of Nigeria in Her Latter Days.”
Bakare said with recent developments in the war against insurgency in the country, it had become clear that the military was due for restructuring, adding that failure to do that urgently might bring more doom to the nation.
He said, “The reported odds faced by the soldiers fighting for our beloved country is a cause for serious concern. While the allegations that our soldiers are forced to confront terrorists with inferior weapons have been denied by the Nigerian Army, these claims must still be thoroughly investigated and acted upon rather than merely dismissed.
“Recent news of the loss of territories to Boko Haram and recent videos of our soldiers being massacred by terrorists are more potent in the consciousness of the average Nigerian than any denial the military officials can muster. The President, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defence, the Army Headquarters, and the National Assembly Committees on Defence must re-examine the defence architecture, especially the human resource factor, and address every anomaly in the interest of the vulnerable rather than the powerful. Failure to do this could undo the gains of the war on terror.”
Bakare also called on the military authorities to justify the huge amount of money the country had spent over time on the country’s armed forces, saying nothing less than N6trn had been spent on the military in recent years.
He declared, “Our military must prove that it is fully equipped to prosecute this war not just by attempting to win the propaganda war, but by winning on the actual waterfront. That is the only way to justify our defence spending over the past decade. Between 2008 and 2018, N6 trillion has been allocated to the Federal Ministry of Defence. Between 2012 and 2014, it received a whopping 19.9 per cent of the total budget on average.
“Under the current administration, the defence (Ministry) received a significant percentage of the annual budget. In 2016, for instance, the ministry was allocated N443 billion, out of N6.06 trillion; in 2017, N469.8 billion out of N7.44 trillion; and in 2018, N576.4 billion out of N9.12 trillion. In 2017, N6.8 billion was budgeted for defence equipment, while Operation Lafiya Dole “and other operations of the armed forces” received N78 billion. With these relatively huge allocations, even with average budget performance, the allegations that our soldiers fight under poor conditions are intolerable.
“If we further consider the fact that recurrent expenditure has been fully performed as overhead costs are covered, then it becomes inconceivable that any soldier risking his or her life for the Nigerian state should be owed a dime of his or her allowance. Even more disturbing is the 2017 investigative report that soldiers in the theatre of war lack basic necessities such as food, uniforms and footwear, despite the fact that a portion of their wages is questionably deducted as feeding allowance. These reports, in addition to the 2018 protests by soldiers deployed in the theatre of war, give cause for concern, especially against the backdrop of the recent resurgence of the terrorists.”
Bakare, however, called on Nigerian soldiers to approach their assignment diligently despite the obvious challenges.
“The soldiers, on their part, must approach the call of duty with civility and courage; with civility because the reports and allegations of human rights violations by the military are repugnant and unbecoming of the distinguished profession. To our soldiers in the theatre of war, you carry the weight of the hopes of a generation on your shoulders. May God replenish your resolve and reward your courageous resilience. For those who have died in combat, we owe these heroic patriots the eternal duty of ensuring that they did not die in vain,” he said.
