by The Chief of Army staff lieutenant General Faruk Yahayya has urged the National Assembly to pass the Armed forces of Nigeria trust fund bill before the end of the 9th assembly.
General Yahayya made the call while presenting the performance of the 2022 budget and defending the 2023 budget proposal of the Nigerian army.
The passage of the bill, according to him would greatly assist the Nigerian army through improved funding.
General Yahayya also called for a review of the current envelope system, which he said leads to inadequate funding for the Nigerian army.
This according to him, is because the manpower requirements of the Nigerian army have increased to meet the expansion of the theater of operations of the 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 a five to an eight-division force structure. Consequently, the Nigerian army battlefield in the center and other operational commands were established to effectively provide security for our citizens. He said.
” 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.” Gen Yahayya noted.
The chairman house committee on the army, Mr Abdurrazak Namdaz, observed 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.
Mr Namdaz stated that the committee is aware of the challenges confronting the army, especially the issue of funding.
He said in recent years, the legislature has worked to improve and sustain the budgetary provision of the army from the budgeted 463 billion naira in 2020 to 509 billion naira in 2021 and 589 billion in 2022.
Namdaz added that the 2023 budget proposal of the Nigerian army, now under consideration is about 600 billion, urging for judicious application of the provision.
Source: radionigeria
