The Nigerian military has budgeted about N 38 bn for the purchase of ammunition , fighter jets and helicopters in 2018 as part of its efforts to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the North -East .
This figure was obtained from the breakdown of procurements covering the Nigerian Army , Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian Navy, as contained in the 2018 budget.
Our correspondent learnt from the breakdown that the army budgeted N 5 ,281 , 288 , 780 for the “ procurement of ammunition of various types and calibres ,” while it said another N 1 ,024 ,800 ,000 was for part payment for three light utility helicopters.
In the 2017 budget , the army had also budgeted N 5 bn for the procurement of weapons to prosecute the anti -terrorism war .
Meanwhile , in the breakdown of the 2018 budget, the army set aside N 1 bn for the purchase of armoured vehicles, and N 300 m for the acquisition of 25 infantry patrol vehicles.
Other expenses are the purchase of vehicles for the Operation Lafiya Dole , the military anti-insurgency operation in the North- East , and other operations , which would gulp N 235 ,697 ,000 .
The total budgetary allocation of the army for the anti-insurgency war stands at about N 7 .5 bn .
An excerpt from the budget partly read , “ ERGP 14109223 – Procurement of ammunition of various types and calibres N 5 ,281 , 288 ,780 . ERGP 14109846 – Purchase of vehicles for the
Operation Lafiya Dole and other ongoing operations N 235 ,697 , 000 . ERGP 14109851 – Acquisition of 25 infantry patrol vehicles N 300 m . ERGP 14109867 – 40 per cent down payment for purchase of 3 LUH AS 350 N 1 ,024 ,800 , 000 . ”
Meanwhile , for the air force , the military budgeted N 22 bn for the purchase of fighter aircraft .
The budget partly read , “ Item ERGP 14108520 – Part payment for procurement of three JF - 17 Thunder aircraft , support equipment and spares is N 13 ,121 ,842 , 710 . Item ERGP 14108531 –Procurement of two Agusta AW 109 helicopters is N 6 ,817 ,486 ,800 . ”
Other ammunition procurements by the air force in the budget are procurement of various arms and aircraft ammunition put at N 3 , 652 , 625 ,000 .
For the navy , there are plans to procure two landing ship tanks for N 5 ,945 , 886 , 655 , while an hydro -survey ship would be purchased for N 3 ,396 ,000 ,000 .
Also , the navy said it would restock with ammunition and ballistic equipment at N 2 ,226 ,126 ,920 .
