Senate committee recommends urgent re-equip of military

Nigeria urgently needs a rolling plan to re-equip its armed forces in the face of growing internal dissent and the threat of external aggression from neighbouring Cameroon, ‘The Guardian’ of Lagos reported on Friday quoting Senate Community of Defence Chairman Adolf Waraba. “Our dear country is currently facing internal threats in the Niger Delta and externally in the Bakassi Peninsula,” the newspaper quoted him as saying on Thursday. Commenting after a tour of military bases in the country, Waraba said on Thursday that the state of the military’s assets was characterised by dilapidated and obsolete weapons, abandoned military projects, inadequate and poor barrack accommodation, and lack of transportation. Nigeria’s economic and military muscle in West Africa has been demonstrated in that it leads, and largely provides troops for the West African Peace Monitoring Group, ECOMOG, deployed in Sierra Leone and before that in Liberia.