Ensure Nigerian Army is placed on first line charge in budget, Ndume tells Gen Musa
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Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has charged the Minister of Defence designate, General Christopher Musa, to make a strong case for the inclusion of the Nigerian Army in the First Line Charge of the national budget.
Ndume, who once chaired the Senate Committee on Army, gave the advice in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
General Musa, who was Chief of Defence Staff, was screened and confirmed by the Senate as Minister of Defence.
He is replacing the erstwhile Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru.
For now, agencies on the first line charge or statutory transfers are those that receive their budgetary allocation directly from the Federation Account before other Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
They include: the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Assembly, the Universal Basic Education (UBEC), and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The former Senate Leader has consistently called for adequate remuneration for personnel of the Nigerian Army to boost their morale.
He stressed that including the military among beneficiaries of statutory transfers will remove all bureaucratic bottlenecks that often hinder the prompt procurement of arms and ammunition needed for operations at theatres.
Ndume said:” While I commend him on his appointment, which most Nigerians have acknowledged that he deserves, he should convince his boss, the President and Commander-in-Chief, on the need to put the Nigerian Army on First Line Charge.
“Aside from adequate funding of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, prompt disbursement of funds is very important. He should ensure the military receives its full capital budget, because if it doesn’t, Operations will suffer.
” Security of lives and property is very important. It is enshrined in the Constitution as the purpose of government for citizens, and we should stop paying lip service to it.
“There should be no justification for delay in the release of funds for the military for procurement and its other strategic needs.
“My position on better welfare for our Armed Forces is already in the public domain. They are not the best paid in the West African subregion.
“Something must be done, urgently, about this to convince them that we value the sacrifice that they continue to make for the rest of us.”
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