What happened to $1bn released for security?

Azuka Onwuka

Last week’s reported attack on the 157 Military Task Force
Battalion in Metele, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists shook
Nigerians to their bones. The reason for the shock was because of
both the high casualty figure (put at over 100) as well as the
video of the attack circulated by Boko Haram, depicting the graphic
killing of Nigerian soldiers. The news, which was broken by the
online newspaper, Premium Times, was followed up with a video
report attributed to soldiers who survived the attack. The video
showed the military vehicles destroyed by the terrorists as well as
the lamentation from the soldiers that they were poorly equipped,
which made it possible for Boko Haram insurgents to overrun them so
easily.

But last week’s attack on the military was not the first of its
kind in recent months. It was just that it was different in
magnitude and pictorial reportage. In April this year, the AFP
reported that Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base and two
surrounding villages near the flashpoint Nigerian city of
Maiduguri, killing at least 20 people and wounding 84. In
September, the same AFP also reported that 48 people were killed
when Boko Haram fighters in trucks stormed the army base in Zari
village and briefly seized it after a fierce battle. On November
15, the news medium also reported that at least three soldiers were
killed by Boko Haram when the insurgents attacked a military base
in Guzamala, Borno State but the Nigerian troops rallied to flush
out the Boko Haram forces. There have been other attempts on the
military in recent times.

It shows that contrary to the claim by the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari that Boko Haram had been “technically
defeated” and “downgraded”, making the group focus only on “soft
targets”, the Boko Haram insurgents have been targeting military
bases and wreaking havoc, to prove that they are still as potent as
ever. The repeated complaints by soldiers of poor equipment and
motivation and the effrontery of the Boko Haram to attack military
bases and video the attack raise some questions. In addition to the
security vote in the budget, what happened to the $1bn special fund
approved for the purchase of security equipment?

In April this year, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali,
disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the release
of $1bn to Nigerian Defence authorities for the purchase of
security equipment to fight insecurity in the country. One billion
dollars is the equivalent of N360bn. Note that in December 2017,
the Ekiti State House of Assembly passed a budget of N96bn for the
state. In February this year, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno
State signed the N181.2bn budget of the state into law. In the same
February of this year, the Anambra State House of Assembly passed
the 2018 appropriation bill into law: N170.9bn. This shows that the
special fund of N360bn for security is equal to the combined annual
budgets of two states. This amount excludes the statutory
allocation to security in the 2018 budget. According to the online
government watchdog, BudgIT, “In the proposed 2018 Budget, N1.323tn
is allocated to security, up from 2017 figures of N1.142tn.” Note
that even though the Presidency proposed a total budget of N8.6tn
for the 2018 fiscal year, the National Assembly eventually passed a
budget to N9.1tn.

It is sad that the soldiers should be complaining of not being
properly funded. It was reported that the attack at Metele lasted
for about 45 minutes. That was long enough for the military to send
aerial support to Metele to dislodge the Boko Haram terrorists. Why
did the soldiers not get that crucial back-up from the air, to save
lives and save Nigeria’s integrity? Was there no SoS from Metele?
Were there no fighter jets to promptly respond to the distress
call? There were also reports that after sacking the military base,
Boko Haram’s insurgents even stayed back to ensure that corpses of
the slain soldiers were not taken by the military. Those who
attempted to retrieve the corpses were attacked. It was only on
Monday (yesterday) (one week after the attack), that it was
reported that the Nigerian Air Force planes bombed the hideouts of
Boko Haram in Metele to dislodge them.

It was also a failure of intelligence that Boko Haram would plan
such a massive attack and execute it without the military
authorities having wind of it, so as to foil it. Since the war
against Boko Haram started, there have been accusations that there
are moles in the military working for Boko Haram against the
soldiers and the nation. This is also what intelligence should find
out and stop.

Interestingly, last week too, while Boko Haram was killing
Nigerian soldiers, the Federal Government was releasing about 156
former Boko Haram members into the society. The media reported that
the 156 men, who were said to have repented and surrendered, on
Wednesday swore allegiance to the Nigerian government after
undergoing a De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration
programme, named Operation Safe Corridor. The repentant insurgents
took the oath of allegiance before Justice Nehizena Idemudia
Afolabi of the Federal High Court, Gombe at the DDR rehabilitation
camp in Gombe. The former Boko Haram members dropped their weapons
and surrendered to the Nigerian Army. Consequently, they were
enlisted into the 11-month de-radicalisation programme, where they
received vocational skills training by different government
agencies.

While the video of last week’s attack by Boko Haram is
demoralising to every Nigerian who watched it, it is a superb
ego-thumping propaganda tool for the Boko Haram for the purposes of
recruiting more members, striking fear into the hearts of many not
to trust the military to protect them, convincing people to see
education as evil, and getting more funds from its sponsors and
sympathisers. The Nigerian military should not have allowed Boko
Haram to record such a success against it.

Those slain soldiers are people’s children, husbands, brothers,
fathers, friends, colleagues, etc. Nobody wants to lose a loved one
in such a manner. While Nigerians are angry over the way those
soldiers were killed, their families must be devastated. Those who
don’t know if their family members were affected would be extremely
anxious. Soldiers who lost their colleagues in such a manner would
be demoralised to fight. It is true that once soldiers get
enlisted, they have signed to fight in defence of their nation, but
nobody wants to die in an avoidable circumstance.

It should also make Nigerian soldiers to place premium on the
lives of Nigerian civilians. When Nigerian soldiers shoot at
civilians during a disagreement or a protest, they should know that
life is precious and should not be wasted because one has a gun.
When a life is cut short with bullets over issues that require
batons, water cannon, blank bullets, pepper spray, etc, it is
devastating to the bereaved.

Finally, there is also failure of leadership from Buhari as the
President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. It
is said that a winning team should not be changed, but nobody ever
said that a losing team or a fumbling team should not be changed.
Since Buhari came into office in 2005, he has never reshuffled his
cabinet, neither has he ever reshuffled his security chiefs. No
matter the mediocre performance of an aide, Buhari keeps the
person. The only few people he has ever removed were people like
Babachir Lawal (former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation), Ayo Oke (former Director-General of National
Intelligence Agency), and Lawal Daura (former Director-General of
Department of State Services) who had big scandals against them.
And for that to happen, it took a long time and a national outcry.
Even when the tenure of the military chiefs expired, he renewed it,
without any proof that they had brought any difference to the
security of the nation. What has happened is that those who work
under Buhari feel presumptuous and nonchalant because they know
that their positions are guaranteed, no matter their performance.
Why is the President still keeping the fumbling security chiefs on
their seats till now?

– Twitter @BrandAzuka

Related