Kunle Adelabu
Chairman, House Committee on Defense and the representative of the Ikorodu Federal Constituency, Rep. Babajimi Adegoke Benson, has said that a lot of improvement has been achieved in terms of defense of country, but that there is need for improvement for Nigeria to compete with other countries.
The two – term federal lawmaker called for funding for defense outside the national budget because of its enormous demands.
Benson, who spoke on funding for Defense in the 2023 Budget, on ‘Your View’, an interactive programme on the Television Continental (TVC) last week, also said that he and other lawmakers have sponsored several laws that will bring about improvement and better performances by the country’s military.
“The 2023 budget which was about 21trilion was signed yesterday (Wednesday, January 4). 13% of it earmarked for the Defense sector which amount to about 2.74trillion naira. In defense, you must continue to spend and spend. Show me a prosperous nation, you would see that the insurgency and insecurity in that country is always high, which is why the defense budget is always high”, he told an all ladies panel on the TVC.
“The budget, though, huge in naira terms, but converting it to dollars makes it a bit insignificant.
“You must also be aware that personnel cost and other things are involved. Armed forces are one of those agencies that you have in the world that take care of you from when you join till when you die. There is nothing that you buy from your pocket. Even your burial is taken over by the Nigerian Armed Forces”, Rep. Benson explained.
“Government is trying to enhance the budget, which is good, but it could be better. Budget for defense is never enough. Security is something you must be able to purchase intelligence and stuff like that”.
Speaking about the performance of the defense arm of the country in recent term, Rep. Benson said:
“We have what is called DICON which is manufacturing military hardware and software. We are trying to expand its scope and there is a bill on it before the House. We have been involved in Boko Haram and other insurgency wars for quite a while now, and we must have lessons learnt; we must have products, both soft and hardware to show for it. Already, we have ‘Ezugbu’, which is an MRAP, which was locally manufactured by DICON”, he said.
“There is another bill before the House sponsored by my good self-called, DRDB (Defense Research Development Bureau). It has been sent to the President for signing. We are promoting the local content with the bill. We want a situation whereby if you want to buy military hardware, you must first purchase the one made in Nigeria, it’s only after that you can go and buy outside. DICON produces bullet proof vests. There is also Pro – Force in which the Nigerian Army has some share in as well. We are actually doing well, but it’s a matter of upscaling to be able to export to other country”, the Chairman House Committee on Defense added.
“Mr President, in his own wisdom, signed what we called the MAFA which is an enhancement of the welfare of men in service. These are our friends and brothers who put their lives down to make us secure. We are here today because Nigeria is secured and safe. No matter what we do, we must put them first”.
Responding to question on his own idea of what the defense sum should be, the lawmaker seeking third term to represent,his people in Ikorodu, said:
“A good sum. My own idea is to yank off capital defense purchases from the budget because the budget cannot carry it. You need to buy a fleet, planes, ammunition and things that are not readily produced in any country and you have to place order”, he said.
“The budget style that we use is the enveloped system, which cannot carry as much as it should carry. The budget of some African countries when it comes to defense is way bigger than ours. If you also look at how they equipped…..They called it a table of equipment. We are ramping up, but we have to do a lot better, and doing a lot better means that we have to spend a lot more”, Rep. Benson added.
“The Tucano that we recently bought is worth millions of dollars and when converted to naira, it’s almost equivalent to the current capital budget. The budget is increasing and you can also see that the money has shown because there is less insurgency and insecurity. The Christmas period was a good example of how safe the country has become”, he further added.
In his response to the question that the country defense should focus more on intelligence gathering rather than spending more on the acquisition of hardware, Rep. Benson said:
“I agree with you on intelligence gathering; you gather from the people who are happy; people that the government has satisfied and that trust the system. They voluntarily provide actionable information for the law enforcement agencies to act upon”.
“Scales are being uplifted a bit. For example, South East has the Second Niger opened for them, definitely, the citizens in that area will be more government friendly and centric and be able to provide actionable intelligence. The road is also provided by the government to get their citizenry satisfied….”
On performances of the previous defense budgets and allegations of diversion of funds, Rep. Benson said that the National Assembly has been able to provide necessary checks and balances to make funds allocated to the defense performed.
“There is always a misconception about defense purchases. Most of the purchases are done on a government to government basis. Some are delayed due to international conspiracy and stuff like that. The system is not 100%, but I would say that we have been able to have checks and balances and oversight on appropriations as at when due”, he said.
“There is also a bill that I sponsored with the concurrence of my member called, ‘Armed Forces Support Funds’. It’s only in Nigeria and a few other countries where you have purchases for hardware and software on the budget, so, we are looking at means that critical assets are funded outside of the budget.
“We are looking at funding the defense sector the way Abuja is being funded with 1% from the budget. Defense and security are critical to our lives. A secured country I can tell you, its GDP, employment would be well taken care of.
“We are always on top of that, because they do send petitions in which some are genuine and others are from soldiers absconding and just looking for succor. There are also some that are a bit correct, but largely, I think that 80% that are required to get to those guys (boot on the ground) gets to them because the repercussions of not doing so are glaring. We do have a legislature and are working on it to ensure that the training and effectiveness of the boot on the ground are topnotch”, Rep Benson said.
