Budget of Recovery and Growth: Part 2: #SaatahBudgetSeries MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

This is the second piece in my 2017 budget analysis series. The first analysis focused on the budget of the State House (which was referred to as the Presidency in previous budgets).

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Today, we will take a look at the budget for the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence has a total budget of 465,488,229,573. Of this amount, 140,000,000,000 will be the total capital budget while 325,488,229,573 will be the total recurrent budget. The total overhead cost stands at 39,999,500,080 and the total personnel cost is 285,488,729,493.

The Ministry of Defence has 15 agencies under it and they are as follows; Federal Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Defence Headquarters, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), National Defence College, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Nigeria Armed Forces Resettlement Centre-Lagos, Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), Defence Intelligence School, Defence Intelligence Agency, Defence Missions, Defence Space Agency, and the Military Pension Board.

The “Rehabilitation of National War Museum Umuahia” will cost the Ministry of Defence 55,208,000. This does not look like it has a problem, but it does. This so-called rehabilitation of the National War Museum in Umuahia has been showing up in budgets for a while now and the tags change from “New“ to “Ongoing” once in a while, which is very odd. Firstly, in the 2014 budget, 30,184,902 was set aside for this item and it was tagged as a “New” project. In 2015, the previous government budgeted for it again, and this time it was given a tag of “Ongoing” with a sum of 27,054,330. In the 2016 budget, which happens to be the first budget of this administration, 28,300,848 was budgeted for it and this time around it was given the “New” project tag. This year, the “Rehabilitation” must continue by fire by force, so 55,208,000 has been budgeted for it.

Nigeria Customs, Navy intercept drug traffickers, recovers 26 bags of cannabis

Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) attached to the Western Marine Command have engaged suspected drug traffickers in a shootout in Badagry, Lagos.

At the end of the operation which lasted for hours, several of the fleeing traffickers sustained varying degrees of injury.

Twenty-six bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp being smuggled into the country from Ghana were recovered. 

The custom operatives were able to intercept the items after a tip-off while they were on patrol at Tanfi Island in Badagry. 

 

HOW NIGERIAN NAVY AVERTS PIRATE ATTACK ON 3 MERCHANT VESSELS

The Nigerian Navy has averted pirate attack on 3 merchant vessels, namely MV MOXON, MT AFRICAN BEAUTY and MT MADONA. The vessels were attacked around Brass waterways in Bayelsa State on 3 and 4 May 2016. 

COMMODORE CHRISTIAN ODOGWU EZEKOBE , Director of Information, Nigerian Navy said the criminals made spirited effort to seize the vessels but the timely response of the special protective team deployed by the Nigerian Navy successfully dislodged the pirates who fled to evade arrest.

In a related development, the naval patrol team deployed by NNS PATHFINDER on 4 May 2016 discovered and destroyed 2 active illegal crude oil refineries located at NAFCON creek. The refineries had 7 storage tanks containing about 10,000 litres of stolen crude oil and 20,000 litres of illegally refined AGO. 

This is even as the patrol team destroyed a warehouse used by the criminals to hide illegally refined products. The massive warehouse located at Ikpokiri community in Rivers State had GP tanks containing suspected illegally refined AGO.

Nigerian Army, Navy Take Over NNPC Pipeline Protection, Unvailes "Operation Awase" To Tackel Vandals

Nigerian Army on Sunday has confirmed that it had taken over the security of the NNPC pipelines in the Lagos area, along with the Nigerian Navy, while it craved the maximum cooperation of host communities.

A statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Col. Mustapha Anka, disclosed this in an interview in Lagos with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).


He said the joint operation, code named ‘Operation Awase’, was set up to tackle the vandalism of the NNPC pipelines in Majidun, Ikorodu and other parts of the state.

Fire Engulfs Petrol Tankers In Lagos, Destroy Properties (See Photos)

Five petrol tankers have been engulfed in an afternoon fire at the Kirikiri area of Lagos state. men of the Lagos State Fire Service and the Nigerian Navy are responding to the fire.

Earlier the residents of the area were complaining of slow response, especially when men of the Nigeria Police who arrive the scene in record time, do not have the contact of the fire service.

Details soon

Boat capsizes in Lagos, 6 drowned, 22 Missing

Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye disclosed that, among the rescued from the Lagos capsized boat, 6 persons have died and 22 others, who also fell of the boat were rescued by local divers.

Farinloye said, “We were told that a boat with 28 passengers capsized around 6pm in the Majidun River. Local divers were said to have jumped into the water and evacuated 22 people.