Insecurity: Our armed forces are overstretched — Senator Ndume

… Seeks adequate funding for the military

Senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has raised concerns over the enormity of security challenges confronting the nation, saying that the Armed Forces are overstretched.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, the lawmaker, who was chairman of the Senate Committee on Army in the ninth Assembly, gave the total number of military personnel as 300,000, declaring that the figure was inadequate in a country of over 200 million people.

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Ndume, who maintained that security is not cheap anywhere in the world, also called for adequate funding, not to take care of arms and ammunition, but for the welfare of the military, whom he noted are ever willing to give their best.

He said, “The army are doing their best, but they can’t do that without trained and adequate troops. That’s why I said, if these things are to be addressed, they must be trained, they must be equipped, they must be armed, and they must be motivated. That’s what I call TEAM.

“Right now, the soldiers are overstretched. The police too. The Air Force are overstretched. The total of them is not up to 300,000 for the Armed Forces, including the Army, Air Force and the Navy, they are not up to 300,000. In a country of over 200 million and in a country where the Armed Forces are in action in almost 30 states. I think in almost all the states, including Abuja, the Nigerian Army is also there on standby. You can’t protect 36 states with over 200 million people, with 300,000 soldiers that are not well equipped.

“The police are not up to 400,000. They are not equipped. And the worst of it is they are not paid. Until recently, I’m not sure if they have started implementing it, but a fresh recruit in the army is paid N50,000. A fresh recruit in the Nigerian Police is the same thing. And in fact, all other security agencies. Some are even worse. The N70,000 minimum wage is yet to be implemented in most places.

“How do you expect them to work?

“But despite that, they are ready. You can see them, these young people are ready to put down their life for the country. And worst of it, their daily ration, they pay them N1,500. These days, can you get a meal for N1,500? “

To mitigate the security challenge, the lawmaker asked the Tinubu administration to declare a state of emergency not only on security, but economy and welfare of Nigerians.

“What we need to do is to place that as the national priority or in fact declare a state of emergency on security, welfare and the economy.

“The President should declare state of emergency on those three things. In everything or whatever they do, they should concentrate on these three things, even if you have to borrow. Not this type of borrowing that they are doing now for trivialities. I’m against that and that is for another day too. “

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