President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime is buying amoured personnel carriers (APC) from China to tackle the increasing menace of insurgency and banditry, particularly in North-East Nigeria.
Mr Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the State House, Abuja, to discuss the issue.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Mr Lawan said, “We’re expecting some APCs from China. We believe that we’ve not had enough.
“We still need to approve more resources for the purchase of weapons for our armed forces, because this is the number one priority of government or any government really, to secure the people, and of course later the welfare.”
Mr Lawan revealed that a supplementary budget would fund the purchase of the military hardware.
“So we believe that we will be doing the right thing; if there is a request through supplementary appropriation bill from the presidency or executive arm of government, we’ll look at it and approve.
“Of course, we have to have a clear-cut definition of how much is going for what. But it is mandatory that we provide more resources for our armed forces, and they’re doing well,” he explained.
He reiterated that the supplementary budget would also cater for the nation’s security agencies’ logistics and welfare.
Mr Lawan noted that he mentioned the issue of a supplementary budget to Mr Buhari.“We have come to meet with Mr President to discuss issues of serious national concern,” he told the journalists.
“One of those issues is the issue of a supplementary budget. Both executive and legislative arms believe that we should have a supplementary budget… I want to take this opportunity to say that the security situation is gradually improving.”
“I’m sure that when we will have more resources to our security agencies will see an even faster recovery of our situation.”
(NAN)
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