Nigeria’s defence sector was allocated the sum of N238bn in 2018 and 2019 defend the nation’s borders, and tackle Boko Haram insurgents among other security challenges.

The Punch reports that this allocation for the Army, Navy and Air Force is contained in the 2018 and 2019 Budget Implementation Reports, culled from the website of the Budget Office of the Federation.

It said the defence ministry, the DHQ and the three arms of the military budgeted over N316bn for its operations and programmes in the two years, but that the Federal Government, however, released about N238bn which represents about 75 per cent of the appropriation.

According to the 2018 Budget Implementation Report, the Federal Government appropriated N157bn for capital projects and operations to the military and released N132bn.

Meanwhile, for the 2019 report, the government allocated a total of N159bn for the military’s capital projects and programmes; it later released N106.84bn.

These sums are different from the $1bn which the Federal Government approved from the Excess Crude Account to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East in December 2017.