The Federal Government of Nigeria has given consent to the procurement of a surveillance aircraft worth the sum of N3.4 billion for the use of the nation’s Customs Service. This information was disclosed on Wednesday by Clem Agba, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, while he was addressing the media following the conclusion of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning presented multiple memos for which clearances were obtained. The first one was for the awarding of a contract for the procurement of a Cessna Caravan aircraft by the Nigerian Customs in the amount of N3,447,442,710 inclusive of 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) with a delivery period of 12 months. He emphasized that the aircraft will be of great aid in the process of conducting air surveillance.
New aircrafts will aid collection of useful intelligence.
This additional new aircraft to the Customs Service’s fleet would help in the fight against and eradicating smuggling activities and the collection of useful intelligence. Agba went on to elaborate by saying that the goal is to aid with border security by conducting aircraft patrols and inspections. He also revealed that an additional N45.9 billion was granted to cover the overrun on contracts for the development of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (NDIC) Abuja and Lagos headquarters and its Lagos training institute.
The total augmentation amount is N45, 937, 319, 279.44. There are another three projects involved; the first is the NDIC Head Office Annex project in Abuja, followed by the Lagos Office project and the Lagos Training Centre project in Lekki-Lagos.” Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, informed journalists that the FEC has also authorized phase two of the electronic Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (e-NSITF), which will allow concessionaires to update the infrastructure for N15 billion.
Procuring contemporary equipment will boost military operations.
Conversely, the federal government has recently made ongoing progress in upgrading the country’s security system, notably by procuring contemporary equipment and instruments that will facilitate and boost military operations. Recent successful operations against insurgents were also bolstered by significant acquisitions of military gears and platforms in recent years. These thorough and methodical acquisitions are not only unparalleled in recent years, but they also accord with the government’s undertaking to protect and improve our country’s security system.
Other recent procurement recorded by the government in the military arm is the acquisition of 12 AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters and other related equipment being acquired from the United States for the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) worth $997 Million. Among the related equipment are Bell-made Cobras, 28 T700-401C engines (24 installed, 4 spares), 2,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems used to convert unguided missiles into precision-guided missiles, a 20-millimetre M197 machine gun, a Night Vision Cueing Display, etc.
Analysts claim insecurity persists despite spending billions of naira.
Nigeria’s defense budget has ballooned in recent years, ranging into trillions of naira since May 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed position, in an effort to combat the myriad and ever-increasing security concerns facing the country. Despite spending billions of naira on cutting-edge military systems, security analysts and reports claim that it doesn’t seem to have made any difference in the country’s security situation as the country is still being ravaged by terrorist activities and insurgency.
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FG assent N3.4bn for surveillance aircraft – Procurement of the Cessna Caravan aircraft to be delivered in 12 months. – Express your point of view.
These continuous procurement of equipment and tools will surely get the military arms equipped with the latest technology and it will help the fight against insecurity in Nigeria.
The amount of money we spent on aircraft surveillance and not having anything to show for it is very bad. I just hope this surveillance aircraft will be okay.
FG assent N3.4bn for surveillance aircraft. This is a very huge amount of money. Hope the aircraft procurement will do us good. This country is in need of good security and good equipment for a better security service in Nigeria
If helping with border security via flying patrols and inspections is the aim, that’s fantastic; doing so will greatly strengthen our security infrastructure.
The approval of N3.4bn for the purchase of surveillance aircraft is a positive development for the Nigerian government’s effort to combat insecurity and restore peace and stability in the country. The government should have committed more resources towards addressing the root causes of the insecurity problem, such as poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure, corruption, and poor governance.
It’s encouraging that the government has been making steady strides towards modernising the safety of the country system giving out military equipments that would improve their performance
The billions of naira federal government has been spending on surveillance and security of the country has not really have much effect on the security architecture of the country, buying all the equipment will not have any good results unless the right thing is done by the security personnel and the government.
We’re all aware that Nigeria needs more surveillance to keep its population safe, and we understand that better security requires more advanced technology.
This show how prepare we are to face insecurity in the country and helping our military standard well, surveillance aircraft is a nice aircraft to have in a country
The procurement of a new Cessna Caravan aircraft for surveillance by the Federal Government will aid collection of useful intelligence, combat terrorism and boost military operations. However,I believe someone is using terrorism to fill syphon money.
Federal government purchase of Cessna Caravan surveillance aircraft worth N3.4bn with ensure intelligent gathering and combating terrorism. It will boost military operation. The insecurity persist because someone in the military is using it to obtain money from the government.
We can all agree that Nigeria requires more advanced technologies for surveillance in order to keep its people secure.