Armed Forces special fund bill passes second reading

By Tony Akowe, Abuja

The Nigerian Armed Forces may henceforth draw one percent of all funds accruing to the Federations Account and Value Added Tax if the bill to create a special fund for the armed forces is passed into law.

The House of Representatives on Thursday moved to address the funding needs of the Armed Forces, passing for second reading a bill to create a special support fund for the armed forces of the federation.

The bill which was first read on the floor of the House on Tuesday, February 25 came up for second reading on Thursday, two days after its first reading and was unanimously passed for second reading by members who spoke in support of having a special fund for the armed forces.

The bill seeks to provide special financial support for the revamping of the Nigerian Armed Forces with the provision of regular training for Armed Forces personnel and the provision of modern security and defence equipment.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Babajimi Benson, Makki Yalleman, Abdulrazaq Namdas, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, Mohammed Shehu Koko, Bello Usman Kumo and Shaban Sharada seeks to draw 0.5 percent of the profit made from investment of the National Sovereign Wealth Fund by the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund Authority.

It will also be funded from one percent of the total money accruing to the federations account, one percent Value Added Tax remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, one percent of air ticket contract charter and cargo sales charges to be collected by the airlines among others multiple sources.

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Leading the debate on the need for the fund, Rep. Babajimi Benson who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Defence said there was the need to explore dynamic ways to fund the Nigerian Armed Forces in the face of dwindling revenue of the federal government.

He said this alternative source of funding is expedient especially with the recent security challenges in the country, adding that national security is of utmost importance to the growth and development of any nation.

While describing national security as the central nervous system of any nation Benson said no security threat should be treated with levity.

He argued that Nigeria has witnessed diverse and unprecedented level of insecurity in the recent times in which the Nigerian Armed Forces have been fully involved.

He listed such challenges to include kidnapping, robbery, herders-farmers clashes, protection of the nation’s oil resources in the Niger Delta, banditry in the Northwest, the lingering Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, cultism, oil bunkering, cattle rustling, piracy and smuggling.

He stressed that in the last fifteen years, the Nigerian military have been involved in thirteen operations and four exercises, saying “coping with all these are, no doubt, an enormous task that requires a robust, well-trained, well-equipped and efficient Armed Forces.”