The Federal Government spent N231.27 billion over the course of four years to buy weapons and ammunition for security agencies and police as part of its efforts to keep the country safe.
According to The Punch, security agencies have claimed that despite the spending, the allocated amount is insufficient to prevent all of the nation’s security threats.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, and other security chiefs defended the large budget for arms purchases in a House of Representatives hearing. They pointed out that since Nigeria does not produce military hardware, the large budget was insignificant given the value of the naira.
He declared, “We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria, and if you don’t produce what you need, then the people who make these things are in control of you. None of the things we acquired were purchased with naira; instead, we used hard money. When money is released, it usually only gets us very little when you convert it into dollars.
“For instance, almost $1 billion was set aside for defense purchases under the previous administration. More than $600 million of that sum went into buying the aircraft. Thus, all of the money was lost.
“We purchase ammunition in dollars and spend millions on it. Thus, frequently, when people notice that funds are being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars, you do not get so much.”
“Imagine how many we could use and acquire given the $5,000 cost of one precision missile for our drone. These are the difficulties,” he stated.
Nonetheless, between 2020 and 2022, an examination of the Ministry of Defense’s and eight other military forces’ annual budgets revealed that the government had allocated N11,72 billion, N10,78 billion, and N9,64 billion, in that order.
Also, N47.02 billion was spent on buying weapons and ammunition in 2023, while the newly approved supplemental budget of N184,25 billion brought the total to N231,27 billion.
The country also spent N115 billion on the importation of weapons and ammunition in the first quarter of this year (the most recent data available) which is higher compared to the last two years.
In 2020, N29.236 billion worth of arms were imported. Arms and ammunition imports totaled N72.5 billion in 2021 and N4.9 billion in 2022.
Security analyst, Chidi Omeje questioned the purpose of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria, an organization tasked with producing weapons domestically.
He said that in order to lessen the nation’s reliance on other nations for weapons and ammunition, the agency needed to be revamped.
“DICON’s poor performance is reckless,” said Omeje. “The group was founded at the same time as its counterparts in India and other nations, but the countries involved have advanced much since then. Even if they are making high-quality weaponry, our DICON is still stuck making furniture and other items.
“You cannot depend on DICON to produce the weaponry that security personnel need to battle the various forms of insecurity plaguing this country. You live in a country that is essentially at war, and you are eager for DICON. The fact that we still rely largely on other nations for the supply of all of our weaponry is concerning. The incoming administration needs to ensure DICON fulfills its obligations.”
