The Young Progressives Party on Friday in Abuja called for an independent audit to ascertain the veracity of claims of inadequate funding and dearth of equipment made by the Nigerian military.
National Chairman of YPP Bishop Amakiri, who made the call at the party’s “State of the Nation” news conference, said that the independent audit of military spending should cover the last 10 years.
He said that the audit would ascertain the immediate and remote reasons behind the military’s inability to fight insurgence and terrorism effectively
“The complaints about inadequacies and lack of equipment to confront insurgents, in most cases of attack, need to be audited and confirmed for better rapid intervention.
“The number of alleged military men constantly being killed in the line of duty is worrisome and calls for immediate intervention by the government.
“All senseless gruesome murders have brought to the fore the need for urgent intervention by all critical stakeholders to check the rising wave of insecurity in the country,’’ he said.
Amakiri also said that heightened insecurity in recent times, especially attacks on farmers, would likely lead to unprecedented nationwide food shortages, with all its attendant consequences if unattended to.
He called on the government to improve its human rights record which, according to him, is at a terrible low in the last five years.
“The government needs to release all illegally detained citizens and start adhering to the rule of law.
“If the government does all these, it will attract cooperation and willingness from friendly nations to sell ammunition and form international alliance in the fight against terrorism and insurgency,’’ he said.
Amakiri urged the government to take deliberate steps to drastically reduce the cost of governance and channel savings to the real sector of the economy.
He said that the high rate of youth unemployment was a valid reason why attention and more funds should be channelled to the real sector of the economy.
“While we acknowledge government’s poverty alleviation intervention programmes, executed through the CBN, the exercise is like drops in the ocean, when compared to the massive army of unemployed youths that are all over the place,’’ he said.
