Senator Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna Central) has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the release of $1bn for the procurement of security equipment to fight the insurgency is not enough.
The president’s decision was made known to State House correspondents by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, at the end of a meeting Buhari had with security chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Taking to his Twitter page, the senator opined that acquisition of arms alone would not win the war against the terrorist group Boko Haram.
He argued that the bulk of the fund should have been channelled to improving the welfare of the soldiers prosecuting the war. Such a package should include the widows of those who have fallen and also funds for those who got injured answering the call to defend Nigeria’s territorial integrity.
He tweeted: “A Billion dollar to purchase arms will not make sense if we don’t factor the welfare and wellbeing of the officers and soldiers fighting the war.
"A special fund for the injured, the orphans and widows of our fallen soldiers need also to be factored in. A weapon cannot fight a war without the men to use it.
"We also need to remind ourselves that our Defence Industry is moribund, before we enrich arms manufacturers in other nations. Our self-sufficiency should not be about rice alone”.
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