The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Dr. Abubakar Kana, has applauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for investing heavily in military hardware and operations.
The Permanent Secretary who made this known at a media briefing in Abuja, insisted that the administration’s investment is highest since independence.
He explained that before 2015, the Nigerian Armed Forces were ill-equipped which made them incapable of tackling the country’s security challenges.
Dr. Kana stated that since the inception of President Muhammadu’ Buhari administration, there have been massive investments in the acquisition and activation of military hardware and operation.
This, according to him, is one of the reasons the military has been able to significantly improve the internal security in the country, incapacitate insurgency and armed banditry and protect the nation’s offshore assets.
The Perm Sec recalled that the last time fighter jets were procured in large quantities in Nigeria was in 1979 when President Shehu Shagari procured several fighter jets including the Alpha Jets.
Since then, according to him, Nigeria has continued to manage those platforms for its defence operations until the advent of the Buhari’s administration.
“Through the visionary leadership, ingenuity and commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari, 42 years after, Nigeria today has been able to carry out Periodic Depot Maintenance of it’s largest troop-carrying plane – the C-130 Hercules aircraft, in the country. This feat has positioned the NAF to comfortably support INEC to deliver election materials across the country,” Dr. Kana said.
According him, “the complexity of today’s security issues necessitates the use of cutting-edge hardware and equipment to combat and subdue terrorists, bandits, and other global security threats.
“The military is expected to have more equipment and operational capabilities than the terrorists. Unfortunately, this was not so in the past.
“The reason we have won the fight so far is because the Nigerian military is far ahead of the terrorists and bandits in terms of capacity and intelligence. No nation wins a war without investing in military hardware. We have won because the government invested massively in equipment and operations,” Dr. Kana noted.
