Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative, GOPRI, has appealed to the National Assembly to increase the allocation meant for the Nigerian Army in the 2020 Budget pending before it for passage.
In an open letter to the legislature signed by the Executive Director of the organisation, Amb. Melvin Ejeh , he explained that its appeal was predicated on the need for the army to extensively and rapidly execute the war against terrorism and insurgency in the North East.
Titled ” 2020 Appropriation Bill and implications of Poor Allocation to Defence on Nigeria’s Security “, the group explained that its case for the army was because the army’s huge responsibility in tackling insurgency.
“From our in depth analyses of the 2020 Defence allocation, we discovered that about 88 percent of the amount and 11 percent are to service recurrent and capital expenditure respectively.”
“Without mincing words, we consider this 11.3 percent to be negligible especially for a critical sector like Defence, which is expected to cater for capital expenditure, comprising several equipment purchases, training, logistics and operations costs to sustain the operations where the military is deployed nationwide.
“We also commend the Federal Government for its political will at waging war against insurgency” it added.
