By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Acting Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, has solicited for more budgetary allocation for the Nigerian Army to enable it to discharge its constitutional responsibilities and provide accommodation for soldiers.
Oluyede made the appeal when he received the Senate Committee on Army led by Sen. Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua on a condolence visit on Monday in Abuja.
The army, he said, has been recruiting about 15,000 personnel yearly but is yet to provide commensurate accommodation to house them.
He expressed worries that the army might face challenges of accommodating the soldiers when the current security challenges stabilised and they return to barracks.
“It is important for me to reiterate that Nigeria belongs to all of us and without your support, it would be very difficult for us to secure Nigeria.
“I want to really appeal to you, very eminent personality of Nigeria, to just please support us and make our job very easy so that we can help secure Nigeria as much as possible.
“Well, over time, we have had situations where the resources that are attributed to the Nigerian army keeps dwindling.
“I think this is a very good forum for me to appeal that maybe in considering next year’s budget, a few very important issues should be noted.
“For instance, in the last couple of years, we’ve been recruiting about 15,000 personnel but I can tell you that not a single support has been given in terms of the accommodation,” he said.
Earlier, Sen. Yar’Adua urged the Acting COAS to continue with the legacy of the late Army Chief, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja.
He said the senate had a robust relationship with Lagbaja who he described as a “very practical officer” and very knowledgeable of military Operations.
He descried late Lagbaja as a “very honest officer who always “says it as it is”.
The Committee chairman said that the late Lagbaja led the army and improved security of the country significantly.
He assured the acting COAS of same courtesy and support for him to continue with the legacy of Lagbaja, and urged the aqrmy to deploy technology in the fight against terrorism. (NAN)