Nigerian Army ill-trained, ill-equipped – Senator Ndume
Former Senate Chief Whip and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Muhammed Ali Ndume, has lamented the state of the Nigerian Army, noting that Nigerian soldiers were operating under a very poor and sorry state, accounting for the parlous state of insecurity in the country.
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Former Senate Chief Whip and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator
Muhammed Ali Ndume, has lamented the state of the Nigerian Army, noting that Nigerian soldiers were operating under a very poor and sorry state, accounting for the parlous state of insecurity in the country.
He attributed the sorry state of the military to its inability to contain the terrorist activities of Islamic groups like the Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African States, ISWAP, in the northeast and northwest areas of the country.
Ndume, dismissed claims that insurgency had been contained, saying groups the Jihadists remained quite powerful and active, especially in Borno and other surrounding states in the North East.
He spoke as aguest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on Arise Television, urging the Federal Government to find solutions that would redeem ugly situation..
According to the Senator representing Borno South and one of the oldest lawmakers in the country, both the Boko Haram and ISWAP have not been either defeated or degraded.
His words, “They have not been defeated, especially in the BAY states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. As it is now today, you can’t travel anywhere in Borno after 5 o’clock till eight in the morning. And it has been like that.
“The Nigerian Army are doing their best under the circumstances that they’re operating as I’m telling you now. I don’t know about last week, I don’t know about last month. Our soldiers that sacrifice their lives, some of them are even yet to be paid the N70,000 minimum wage; and their daily ration up till now – I don’t know about last week, because I’m interested, I’m a Nigerian, I’m a Senator, is N1,500. You can imagine what N1,500 can do to somebody you just posted from Port Harcourt sometimes.
“I met a young man from Bayelsa posted to Bama and he’s being paid N50,000, when I met him – N50,000. As Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, I was on their neck. I’m not trying to exonerate myself, but Buhari is alive. He knows the pressure I personally put on him, especially for him to approve the loan that we collected to procure the Tucano Jets that changed the balance.
“Right now, the truth of the matter is that our Nigerian Armed Forces, generally, are not well-trained, are not equipped, are not motivated, are not armed. If you don’t do that you don’t get anywhere.
“I suggested at one time that if we can’t do that at the shortest possible time, then one of the short-term solution that the Chief of Defence Staff came here to disagree with me, which he is entitled to, is to engage the services of private military contractors – PMC – It is done all over. America that is the greatest country in the world, they engage in Blackwater, which is a known contractor. The British Army do that, French does that.
“So, with this problem, of two or three black spots, you can address it through the Private Military Contractors – and ask them to fix it. They’ll fix it. And the Nigerian Army can engage themselves in other things. But I look at it as something of pride. What’s wrong in engaging private contractors to solve the problem?”
His words, “They have not been defeated, especially in the BAY states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. As it is now today, you can’t travel anywhere in Borno after 5 o’clock till eight in the morning. And it has been like that.
“The Nigerian Army are doing their best under the circumstances that they’re operating as I’m telling you now. I don’t know about last week, I don’t know about last month. Our soldiers that sacrifice their lives, some of them are even yet to be paid the N70,000 minimum wage; and their daily ration up till now – I don’t know about last week, because I’m interested, I’m a Nigerian, I’m a Senator, is N1,500. You can imagine what N1,500 can do to somebody you just posted from Port Harcourt sometimes.
“I met a young man from Bayelsa posted to Bama and he’s being paid N50,000, when I met him – N50,000. As Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, I was on their neck. I’m not trying to exonerate myself, but Buhari is alive. He knows the pressure I personally put on him, especially for him to approve the loan that we collected to procure the Tucano Jets that changed the balance.
“Right now, the truth of the matter is that our Nigerian Armed Forces, generally, are not well-trained, are not equipped, are not motivated, are not armed. If you don’t do that you don’t get anywhere.
“I suggested at one time that if we can’t do that at the shortest possible time, then one of the short-term solution that the Chief of Defence Staff came here to disagree with me, which he is entitled to, is to engage the services of private military contractors – PMC – It is done all over. America that is the greatest country in the world, they engage in Blackwater, which is a known contractor. The British Army do that, French does that.
“So, with this problem, of two or three black spots, you can address it through the Private Military Contractors – and ask them to fix it. They’ll fix it. And the Nigerian Army can engage themselves in other things. But I look at it as something of pride. What’s wrong in engaging private contractors to solve the problem?”
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