According to Ndume during an interview on Channels TV, monitored by SaharaReporters, the Nigerian government was not serious in tackling insecurity, as the Nigerian Army was not well funded.
The Senator representing Borno South senatorial district in the National Assembly (NASS), Ali Ndume, has said that the Nigerian Army does not have the funds and equipment required to fight terrorism in Nigeria.
According to Ndume during an interview on Channels TV, monitored by SaharaReporters, the Nigerian government was not serious in tackling insecurity, as the Nigerian Army was not well funded.
He said Maiduguri, Borno State capital, where he lived, was now safer from terrorists than the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, due to the ravaging kidnappings and killings.
“I will say it again, the purpose of government is security and welfare of its citizens, the Nigerian Army doesn’t have the number, they don’t have the equipment, they don’t have the technology that’s required to solve or handle these challenges that we have, the earlier we prioritise this seriously and even declare some kind of state of emergency in the area of security and welfare of Nigerian citizens; the better for us because that’s what the government is all about,” he said.
“The Nigerian Army that I know is up to the task if they are given what they need and also a timeline. I know what they can do, I have seen it and I know what they need, and I know what they have on ground, the Nigerian Army is not well equipped, they don’t have the number.
“You can imagine, last month, their salaries were even paid lately; in fact their capital which is very small compared to the Nigerian budget was only released, only 50 percent of it was only released; I think this month”
“With a situation like this, I don’t think we are serious and I mean i think we need to be serious because the situation is getting out of hands every day; you hear of bandits moving freely, attacking villages, kidnapping and destroying.
“But how can they perform when for example, you have a budget of 17trillion and the capital allocated to defense or security agencies is insignificant yet you expect performance, it doesn’t add up.
“In the North-East we are getting better now than before; as you know, I’m speaking with you in Maiduguri and I left my house which is about 5-10 kilometers from here to be in your studio; that means Maiduguri is in fact I can say safer than Abuja”
“I’m not interested in lamenting, all I’m saying and using this medium coming here to say is that the government should be serious, the government should put in everything that they got in order to make sure that Nigeria is secured internally.”
He also advised the Federal government to recruit more people into the police force and bug terrorists’ phones instead of innocent Nigerians.