Nigerian FG Slams critics of $1bn fund for Boko Haram war

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Nigerian Government has described the criticisms trailing the approval of $1bn for the fight against insurgency and other violent crimes in the country as unnecessary and unhelpful.

Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at a news conference in Lagos, said the Nigerian Governor’s Forum acted wisely in approving the fund from the Excess Crude Account based on the need to properly fund security operations in the country to adequately respond to threats by Boko Haram and other criminals.

Mohammed pointed out that the approved fund was not to fight Boko Haram in the North East alone but also to tackle kidnapping, cattle rustling, illegal oil bunkering and other crimes.

He expressed dismay that an action intended to make the country safer had been subjected to attacks by people with ulterior motives.

“There has been an unnecessary, uninformed and highly-partisan criticism of the one billion dollars which was recently approved by the Nigeria Governors Forum for the military to tackle the security challenges facing the country, including Boko Haram, illegal oil bunkering, kidnapping and cattle rustling.

“I said unnecessary and uninformed because everyone knows the role the military is playing in helping to tackle the numerous security crisis facing the states, much less the war against Boko Haram.

“The fact that Boko Haram has been largely degraded does not mean the war is over. As we have said times without number, asymmetric wars like the one against Boko Haram do not end with an armistice.

“It is, therefore, curious that some of those who have criticised the $1bn approval have hinged their argument on the fact that the Boko Haram has been degraded.

“Perhaps also, the critics do not know that fighting an asymmetric war is costlier than fighting a conventional war. In any case, wars, especially the war against terror, are never fought with budgetary provisions.