At last, President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to borrow $1bn to tackle security challenges in the country has got the Senate’s nod. The loan is intended to procure the critical military hardware for the prosecution of the war against terror. The repayment of the loan would spread over seven years. It is imperative to emphasise that the loan does not attract any interest.
While explaining the terms of the facility, chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Ahmad Makarfi, said “Belarus has accepted to give helicopters on the condition of payment in instalments over a seven-year period. Other armaments and equipment will be bought on the same terms from other European countries”.
It is, however, alarming that since 1998, fighter jets and helicopters in the fleet of the Nigerian Air Force have not been maintained. Sadly too is the neglect suffered by sundry equipment as a result of our inherent poor maintenance culture. Obsolete hardware, inadequate equipment and other critical appurtenances coupled with obvious superior fire power of insurgents necessitated the dire need to grant Jonathan’s request. In fact, in the face of the escalating hostilities in the terror zone of the North-east of the country, modern and sophisticated military equipment are essential for the effective prosecution of the war.
Ordinarily, even in peace time, equipping the nation’s military should be a critical priority and be on the first line charge. It is, however, shocking to discover the rate of depletion of the Air Force fleet. More shocking is the total neglect of the ones on the ground. This neglect raises the question of the judicious utilization of the annual defence budget that now runs into trillions of naira annually. One critical aspect that is lacking in the ongoing war against terror in the North-east is the inability of our military to launch airstrikes to destabilise the insurgents for the ground troops to move in.
The worrisome dimension to the insurgents’ operation is the seizure of some communities in the axis where they have even declared a “caliphate”. No thanks to the lack of modern fighting equipment for our soldiers… a development that led many of them to disobey superior orders to go to the warfront where they are outmatched and outgunned by the ragtag insurgents.
Interestingly, the Senate unanimously mandated the federal government to declare total war on the Boko Haram sect. For once, perhaps, the entire nation is unanimously united against the insurgency, although initially a section of the Senate appeared opposed to the loan on the grounds of constitutional breaches. The leader of the opposition in the Senate, George Akume, and his colleagues had voted against the loan approval because they wanted to be guided by the law of the country.
“If we want to borrow, let us follow what is stipulated in the Constitution so that we know where we are going. We have raised fundamental issues and the Senate must be guided by the provisions of the Constitution, as far as this matter is concerned,” Senator Akume had argued.
In contrast, many have expressed doubts about the sincerity of the Jonathan administration on the loan and have even alleged that the loan would be diverted to prosecute his second-term interest in the fast approaching 2015 general elections rather than acquire the war equipment. The well orchestrated Presidential visits to the six geo-political zones of the country with its semblance of political campaigns underscore the fears and suspicions. It is not surprising that the request caused such a furore at the Senate. It behoves the Senate to ensure that the loan is used judiciously because the expectations of Nigerians particularly those in the war-torn zone are very high. They have been traumatised for too long. The Senate should be applauded for the timely approval.