The Brigade of Guards as the first line security outfit guarding the president and his family members gulps the lion share of overhead votes of the Ministry of Defence on a yearly basis.
The Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd.), disclosed this Friday while making presentations on the 2021 budget implementation and 2022 budget proposals of the ministry before the Senate Committee on Defence.
He said out of the N2.076 billion appropriated for overhead cost in the ministry for 2021 fiscal year, the Guards Brigade got N1.520 billion which is about 77% of the total allocation; leaving N556.4 million.
The same pattern of sharing, according to the minister, is provided for in the proposed 2022 budget.
“Out of the N21.672 billion projected for the ministry in 2022, N2.076 billion is for overhead costs of which N1.520 billion is earmarked for the Brigade of Guards, while the remaining N556 million is for the ministry’s overhead votes,” he said.
Other components of the proposed N21.672billion for the 2022 fiscal year as explained by the minister are N15.481 billion as personnel cost and N4.115 billion as capital votes.
The proposed N4.115 billion capital vote in 2022, according to him, is higher than N3.920 billion of 2021 by about N200 million.
The minister was, however, questioned by the Committee chaired by Senate Aliyu Wamakko on why the proposed vote for personnel cost in 2022 “is lower than that of 2021.”
“While the personnel vote for the Ministry in 2021 is N15.522 billion, the projected one for 2022 is N15.481billion.”
