The acting Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Olufemi Oluyede, has solicited more budgetary allocation for the Nigerian Army to enable it to discharge its constitutional responsibilities and provide accommodation for soldiers.
Oluyede made the appeal when he received the Senate Committee on Army, led by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua, on a condolence visit on Monday in Abuja.
The army, he said, has been recruiting about 15,000 personnel yearly but is yet to provide commensurate accommodation to house them.
He expressed worries that the army might face challenges in accommodating the soldiers when the current security challenges stabilise and they return to barracks.
“It is important for me to reiterate that Nigeria belongs to all of us and without your support, it would be very difficult for us to secure Nigeria. I want to really appeal to you, very eminent personality of Nigeria, to just please support us and make our job very easy so that we can help secure Nigeria as much as possible.
“Well, over time, we have had situations where the resources that are attributed to the Nigerian army keep dwindling. I think this is a very good forum for me to appeal that maybe, in considering next year’s budget, a few very important issues should be noted.
“For instance, in the last couple of years, we’ve been recruiting about 15,000 personnel but I can tell you that not a single support has been given in terms of the accommodation,” he said.