…charge Nigerian Army to train more personnel in counter-terrorism, banditry
…as TRADOC defends N43.3b 2022 budget
House of Representatives, Thursday, revealed that its resolution to designate bandits as terrorists was essentially informed by the disturbing wave of terrorism and banditry across the country.
The Chairman, House Committee on Army, Hon. Abdulrazaq Namdas gave the explanation at the 2022 budget defence session of the Training and Doctrine Command, TRADOC of the Nigerian Army.
It will be recalled that TRADOC was established in 1981 to formulate training policies, monitoring of training exercises, operations of Nigerian Army and conducting promotion examinations for officers amongst others.
The command was funded directly by the army headquarters until 2021 when President Muhammadu Buhari approved its status to the budget centre which prompted the National Assembly to appropriate funds for it.
Namdas who said that the appropriation of funds to the command by National Assembly necessitated their oversight function charged the army formation to train more personnel against terrorism and banditry.
He promised the continued support of the Committee to enable the command achieve its goals.
He said: “It was the main reason we here in the House of Representatives particularly, the Committee on Army started our oversight functions by visiting TRADOC, first before any other army formation. Our visit gave us more confidence that TRADOC is doing exactly what it was established to do. This is because our visit coincided with the ongoing training which we decided to observe and what we saw actually shows that TRADOC is doing its own doctrine and then training officers and men in the Nigeria Army.
“With the current security challenges bedeviling the country, we urge TRADOC to pay attention in training our army officers and men in counter terrorism and banditry. We are worried with the spate of banditry across the country. That’s why we feel that attention should be paid to banditry and also terrorism. That was also why the national assembly decided to pass a resolution urging the President of the Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to designate bandits as terrorists so that the security forces can have more power to deal with the situation.
“Yesterday, we went on oversight visit to the Nigerian Army Women Corps. We were impressed by the high level of professionalism displayed by the Corps. However, we urged you to train them more so that the Corps can do all the assignments given to them.
“Qe are aware that the Corps has done so much in covering the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
“As a Committee, we will continue to support the army to achieve their goals but we shall insist that funds provided must be judiciously utilized in order to earn the trust of Nigerians and boost moral of soldiers and officers in the army”.
In his presentation, the commander of the formation, Major General Stevenson Olabanji the Nigerian Army is expected to commission new officers.
He said: “In preparing the Year 2022 Budget, Training and Doctrine Command, the Nigerian Army is expected to commission about 3,885 cadets into the officer’s cadre, enlist about 18,000 recruits as other rank and a further Special Forces Training of
about 4,800 amongst those commissioned and other rank cadres. The essence of the Special Forces Training is to further give these personnel some specialized training in the aspect of watermanship, deep-diver, airborne and leaving off the land.
“Other aspect of this training would be in the areas of target acquisition, tracker, assailing and rappelling, counter terrorism and counter insurgency training amongst others. These are all geared towards beefing up the personnel strength of the Nigerian Army and further increase her fighting capabilities in order to bring a lasting solution to the insecurity challenge in our country”.
He said that TRADOC’s 2022 budget was N43.3 billion.
“Training and Doctrine Command Nigerian Army is requesting for the sum of N43.3b only for Year 2022 Budget appropriation. However, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Penning proposed a total sum of N26.2b only.
“Accordingly, the followings are my humble Prayers: The sum of N30.8b only should be approved for Training and Doctrine Command Nigerian Army Personnel Emolument for Year 2022 Budget as against N25.5 billion in the Appropriation Bill.
“The sum of N44.96 billion should be approved for TRADOC for Year 2022 overhead as against N200m in the Appropriation Bill.
“The sum of N7.4b should be approved for Training and Doctrine Command Nigerian Army for Year 2022 Capital as against N544m in the Appropriation Bill.
“I therefore humbly request this Honourable Committee kindly approve the total sum of N43.3b which covers the Personnel Emolument (Trainees/instructors’ Allowances), Capital and overhead budget components of Training and Doctrine Command Nigerian Army
“Th Doctrine Command Nigerian Army is committed to training very mobile, dynamic, fierce, gallant and ever ready Nigerian Youths into the Nigerian Army who wish to defend the territorial integrity of their fatherland from any external violation and internal disturbances as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said.
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