Immediate past Chief of
Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd)
has offered a hint as to why the Nigeria’s
military is struggling in the fight against the
deadly Boko Haram insurgency in North-east
Nigeria.
The former military boss, at his pull-out-parade
on Thursday, claimed that successive
governments in Nigeria deliberately underfunded
the military for political reasons.
“Over the years, the military was neglected and
under-equipped to ensure the survival of certain
regimes, while other regimes, based on advice
from some foreign nations, deliberately reduced
the size of the military and underfunded it.”
Badeh disclosed.
He further lamented that: “our past leaders
accepted such recommendations without
appreciating our peculiarities as a third world
military, which does not have the technological
advantage that could serve as force multipliers
and compensate for reduced strength.”
Badeh noted that when the military was
confronted with the crises in the North-East and
other parts of the country, the military was
overstretched and had to embark on emergency
recruitments and trainings, which were not
adequate to prepare troops to face the
insurgency.
The Boko Haram militants in North East
Nigerian have killed many innocent civilians in
several coordinated attacks and bombings, and
are so successful in the carnages making many
to believe that the insurgent fighters are better
funded and equipped than the Nigerian soldiers.
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