Breaking news
The Nigerian Army needs to replace 25-year-old ammunition and equipment.
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Defence & Security News - Nigerian Army |
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| Tuesday, July 22, 2014 11:12 AM | |||
| The Nigerian Army needs to replace 25-year-old ammunition and equipment | |||
The
Nigerian minister of state for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has
explained why the federal government needs to acquire new equipment, arms
and ammunition for the Nigerian military, saying the new acquisition of
military hard ware will put a quick end to insurgency. |
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 Nigerian soldiers during counter-insurgency operation against Boko Haram |
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Obanikoro, who said this over the weekend, also noted that though the Nigerian military was well motivated to fight oil theft and the Boko Haram insurgency, the need to upgrade the equipment level of the military and put a quick end to insurgency made it expedient to acquire new equipment. The minister who spoke during a familiarisation tour of the headquarters of the Central Naval Command, Bayelsa State, said the failure to acquire new and modern equipment for the military was part of the reason the security action against Boko Haram insurgency was difficult. He also said the military had the capacity to deal with the security challenges in the country, adding that the federal government was in the process of doing more recruitment for the military. “We are in the process of doing more recruitment; they are the ones we have and the purpose of keeping them is to save the country when situations like these arise. “Do not forget that we had a time when we did not have anything to deal with and the military was just there. Now that we have challenges to deal with, I think that is the essence of having a strong military. In fact, it is not in our interest for them to be idle. Now they are active; they are working very hard.” He said he recognised that if the country did not increase the capacity of the mililitary, situations such as oil theft and insurgency would become a challenge. He stressed that when a country had such a challenge there was no way it could win the war on terrorism. “We have also recognised that and we are being proactive in that area. So, we are training more men, adding to their capacity to perform, bringing in more arms and ensuring that what we have does not overwhelm us,” Obanikoro said. |
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