Nigerian Military Gets Almost A Trillion Naira From 2014 Budget

The Federal Government informed that a total of N130.7bn had been allocated by the Federal Government for the needs of military operations by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) during from January to April 2014.

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A soldier sits in a truck during a military patrol in Nigeria’s central city of Jos. Reuters

This was confirmed by the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Abuja, on May 23, 2014, during the press briefing on the details of newly-signed country’s budget.

The minister confirmed that the welfare of the armed forces was among the top priorities of the Federal Government. She also added that Jonathan’s administration understood the importance of proper funding due to the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

The breakdown of the released amount looks in the following way:

– N85.9bn – personnel cost;

– N44.8bn – overheads and capital expenditure.

She further added that the MoD got almost a trillion naira in this year’s budget. Therefore, about N837.42bn would be disbursed till the end of 2014.

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Finance minister debunked the allegations that some delays in salaries’ payments to the military men have occurred due to the ministry’s fault.

Okonjo-Iweala confirmed that the military did not use the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) for transferring salaries to personnel.

IPPIS is a new payment platform of the Federal Government. It allows salaries to be released directly into account of employees of the government, instead of going through the old system, full of bureaucracies. However the MoD is not captured by it.

At the same time, some of high-ranked officers have previously lamented inadequate budgetary allocation for the military.

The alleged delay in payments of salaries became one of the reasons for soldiers’ mutiny at Maimalari Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State.

1 COMMENT

  1. This is a great move by GEJ and i love it.. Developed countries today spend more of funds on the military. You cant expect a good job from them when they are patrolling with empty stomach. Another thing i would advise is that Federal government should banned the military from staying on road blocks and humiliating civilians the streets cause that is what makes them weak, staying on the road block is the work of the police. You can hardly see a military man working on the streets in developed countries. Military people are only seen in the barracks, its only when there is war you see them bursting out. When the Military are so much exposed to police works it makes them weak and gives them fear when war comes from military enemies.