Press "Enter" to skip to content

If the Federal Government spends $1 billion for fight against Insurgency, how plausible will that figure be?

Following the National Economic Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, announced that the 36 Governors of the Federation have approved that $1Billion be taken from the Excess crude account, to fight insecurity and insurgency in the Nation, especially in the North-East.

The Governor said the money will be spent on purchasing equipment, procurement of intelligence and logistics and all that is required to put an end to the insurgency which has been bedevilling the Country.

However, the announcement has been trailed with criticisms as many assumed all of the money is meant for fighting insurgency in the North East.

According to Femi-Fani Kayode, the money would be used to fund 2019 elections rather fight Boko Haram.

“$1 billion is to be taken from the badly depleted Excess Crude Account to “fight Boko Haram”.

“This is a lie. The $1 billion will be used by Buhari and his APC to fight the 2019 Presidential election and part of it will be shared between party leaders and the cabal,” he tweeted.

Governor Ayodele Fayose, in support of his PDP counterpart has also distanced himself from being among the Governors who approved the fund.

“For posterity sake, I wish to place it on record that I was not among the Governors who approved the withdrawal of almost half of our savings in the Excess Crude Account, which belongs to the three tiers of government to fight an already defeated insurgency.

“Since they said they have defeated Boko Haram, what else do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N360 billion) for; if not to fund the 2019 elections?”

Is the money really exaggerated?

According to the Defense Department Data in 2016, the United States spend $11 million daily to fight ISIS from the air, since 2014.

The group is yet to be defeated, even with the US spending about $5.5 billion dollar on the war.

As part of plans to eliminate Al-Shabaab, the US President, Donald Trump, was reported to have boosted Pentagon with $54billion in the first budget.

The Department of Defense (DoD) also requested for ‘Operation Freedom Sentinel’ in Afghanistan, ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’ in Iraq and the Levant, increased European support and counterterrorism.

Trump further requested that Congress add another $24.9 billion for the DoD and $5.1 billion for Overseas Contigency Operations (OCO) to fight ISIS.

According to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released in April, the top five Military spenders at 2016 are

1. America ($611B)

2. China ($215B)

3. Russia ($69.2B)

4. Saudi Arabia ($63.7B)

5. India ($55.9B)

It was reported that Al-Shabaab overtook Boko Haram to become the deadliest group in Africa in 2016.

In March, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin, revealed that the Country had spent $2.6Billion on terrorism in 2016.

Others have also argued that since the last funds budgeted for fight against terrorism was embezzled by the last administration, there is need for new funds. Some others see this a yet another excuse.

Facebook Comments
ETN24 - Explaining the News is about putting News in the correct context to promote understanding and education. We believe News should educate, not agitate. Our dedication is to fighting Fake and Sensational News, as well as to keep an eye on the media to ensure our peace and sanity are not sold for traffic.