A Nigerian Army commando and a BTR-4 APC, delivered in 2014
A BTR-4 APC with cage armour
A column of REVA MRAPs and T72 battle tanks on the move inside the Sambisa Forest
An array of REVA MRAPs
Bofors FH-77B 155mm artillery pieces (foreground and centre) and a RM-70 122mm rocket artillery system
A Nigerian Airforce Quick Response Force commando and a 40mm automatic grenade launcher
A Nigerian soldier trains on an anti tank guided missile
Nigerian troops and a BigFoot MRAP in the 6,000+ square kilometre Sambisa Forest
Beegeagle's Blog 
I assume the image of the soldier with the ATGM, was nt taken in Nigeria cos of the cold weather gear. However since we had such training we hv to assume Nigeria plans to or has already aquired the weapon system. Can anyone confirm?
You are right adetayo, i understand that some of our troops have been trained to use them. It is likely the army wants to make a purchase. I do hope they buy large quantities to go round all our infantry units.
The Nigerian army didn’t recruit through its yearly SSC/DSSC openings. I know that the RCs from Nigerian defence academy are not enough to meet up with our number of young officers that we need. We know that depot is training recruits regularly, where wil the military find young officers to lead the soldiers coming in from depot? I want to believe a re-organisation that started during the tenure of minimah is still ongoing. Anybody with info should please let us know when the army didn’t recruit via SSC/DSSC this year.
In my humble opinion, it is the same reason every body in the top echelon of the military (except one yorubaman) are nothern sunni muslims. It is the same reason why the supposed military of the country is targetting the shia with mss killings. It is the same reason why buhari lifted the road blocat the beginning of his presidency.
Rest assured that the army is most likemly recruiting, just not from your side of the country. You could try and pretend you are a sunni muslim from the north (and preferably a fulani), that might soldve your problems.
I came across a link of the video showing the day the Nigerian chief of army staff’s convoy was stopped. From the camera angles you can deduce that it was taken by the army.
The sect obviously got what they wanted
Please ova Saleh,Oga Augustine if you can translate the rest of us would be grateful.
All I see in the doctored video is a protest. i don’t see the people holding any guns and I don’t see any attacks. GEJ on the other hand was attacked during his presidential campaign and I don’t recall any killings by GEJ. I have always maintained that buratai was one oof the least qualified in his rank to lead the army, and quite francly I don’t even understand that someone in his speciality wrose to that rank. Teaching soldiers how to do press-ups is different from leading an army or a war. I am qnot surprised when I see the same “bring back our girls” crooks praising this killing spree. I ca’t believe I used to be talking to such monsters. I realy don’t see the difference between this group of people and the nazis. Indeed some even called for more killings. I broke my silence for the Shia. Now all the psycopaths who want more killings can kindly go to hell.
Translation Please somebody
Nigerian troops killed in Boko Haram ambush in Borno
A senior military officer and troops in his command have been reportedly killed in a Boko Haram attack between Maiduguri and Bama in Borno State, late Tuesday night.
Though details of the incident were unclear as at the time of writing this report, an intelligence source familiar with the development identified the slain Commanding Officer as Lieutenant Colonel Salami.
The source said that the troops reported coming under heavy gunfire by Boko Haram insurgents during their patrol.
“They were cornered and ambushed,” the source added.
At least 30, 000 lives have been lost since the Boko Haram crisis started in 2010.
https://www.today.ng/news/national/52634/nigerian-troops-killed-in-boko-haram-ambush-in-borno?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Nigerian soldiers are just dying for nothing
How difficult is it to buy just ordinary tucanos for fast air support??
if this is true then where are our helics? are they for photo ops alone
This is Venezuela. More serious economic problems than Nigeria;
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/venezuela-buying-su30s-helicopters-et-al-from-russia-02472/
In a normal country, when the head of any of the three services is involved in such killings, his resignation letter follow suit. That is what happened when soldiers shot at a croud in france. Although in that case it wasn’t even deliberate. The soldiers were doing a little war game for the crowd and they were supposed to have only blanks in their riffles. And the head of the french army was nowhere near. But I guess in animal kingdom overthere things don’t go the same way. The chief of army staff can go and kill people just because they mounted a road block before him and insulted his ego by so doing.
Oga igbi can I say welcome back? Cause it seem u are in nuclear mood
No body is praising the killings(it is humans that died not animals)but some things has to be put a stop to,the army only did it in a very very wrong way,let’s just hope/pray that this does not turn to another BH
I was thinking the other day,don’t we have any crisis management agency,cos this type of action that was performed by the army should not have happened cos u are already fighting one,u then go to start another one,this proves that we only have junkies at the top of our military not generals cos u can’t fight a war at two fronts,especially when our military lack basic equipment
Its good to have u back igbi,I av totally missed your comments,hope u stay for good this time around
I actually have too much in my hands to come back. Besides, if take a good look around you will notice that there are quite a big bunch of propagandists on this blog and also some people who play the role of political officers (like in every dictatorship). These guys would jump at your throat whenever what you say doesn’t show their master in a good light. Couple that with all the lies they keep peddling around, in a forum I once mistook for a collection of citizens putting their heads together in solidarity to find solutions for the security woes of their country. I can’t stay too long in a place where dishonesty and hypocrisy rule. Again I am not talking about everybody. After midnight, I will once again be out of this forum. I am half way through a book on category theory which I am wrighting and I need calm around me.
OGA IGBI
Welcome back from your self imposed exile while I personally respect your comments, it might do you a great deal of good to do a little research before you start commenting on things you honestly based on what you have written so far
*LT. GEN BURATAI is one of the most qualified Generals that Nigeria is blessed to have , He is highly respected most crucially by the men do the most fighting in the N’EAST not only has he constantly put himself in harm’s way he has dedicated himself to completely destroying bh, he has suffered personally his house has been burnt down twice , and his mother’s village, T he push ups that you are writing about is not about the photo ops it is about the General down to the corporal being in their best physical shape, if the Gen can do a 10km forced march every able Soldier male or female should be able to do it.
For your information Shittes ,Sunni, An- war islam, Ahmadiya , etc have all existed in the Nigerian Army and you don’t write on your application what sect you are from because Shittes exist all over Nigeria including Lagos State, so the Idea is ridiculous to say the least , yes the Sunni are the Majority Muslim group that does not make them the only group.
Lastly everyone in the top Military Echelon is not Northern Muslim
GOC of the 1 div ( KADUNA) is Yoruba
GOC of the 81div ( Lagos) is from the south either SE OR SS
MAJ GEN KOLEOSO is one of the most senior Army officers (he is a Chief) is Yoruba
MAJ GEN LAMIDI ADEOSUN GOC 7 div who is credited with turning the 7 div around is Yoruba
The recent promotion of officers to Generals was based strictly on Merit this is coming from me a Nigeria ( ETHNICITY AND RELIGION withheld) who witnessed someone who has done three combat tours get his well deserved promotion.
Please much as I respect your comments double check on your facts.
And yes people died under GEJ ‘ Administration ( Lagos 2014) ,like any other administration , be it obj or yaradua.
Llastly please go and watch the several videos that are now out there and then read or talk to people in ZARIA.
Oga Jimmy, the official video from the Nigerian Army was clearly edited to fit their narrative by cutting it into two parts.
Yes the Shi’ites erred by blocking the road, but two wrongs does not make a right especially gunning down people some who were obviously high on cheap drugs, armed with sticks and stones is pure evil.
*Sorry TYPO Lastly*
Let the guy go back to his Category Theory whatever.
“Buratai is not qualified for COAS” …Then who else is qualified? . Special Forces background et.c
Some people want us to go back to the days of unqualified jokers in authority positions . The majority of Nigerians support the Army’s action. Let this Zakzaky man phone Iran and ask for his next set of instructions, Nigeria won’t be disrespected.
@centenary
This was not a crisis. This was a power show gone wrong by the sect and a challenge to the state and the leader had to be arrested. Active resistance to the arrest had to be violently put down.
Two of the best propagandists and political officers I came across in here: arejames and jimmy. When was the last time these two guys disagreed with each other anyway ? Don’t worry guys, keeps writing whatever pleases you, your bosses and beegeagle, I am not reading your posts. I don’t read propagandists.
Why don’t I read propagandists ? Because my brain is not a toilet.
Arejames & Jimmy have turned this blog to PMB propaganda forum, mindlessly supporting anything PMB’s govt does.
Continue
I have decided it is not worth engaging with such folks on any media, a reason i totally exited social media.
@Beegs, u really need to decide if this blog is strictly a defsec blog or for political praise singing…
Thanks sir Beegs for bringing us these pictures. If I may ask, would you know the extent of acquisition of major equipment by the last administration? Tanks, BTR-s, APCs. I know you’ve informed us once that Nigeria acquired 120 Chinese MRAPs, you also gave an estimate of Reva MRAPS acquired by Nigeria here. Would you know if Nigeria has more than 4 pieces of BTR-4 as listed by wikipedia?
10 units of BTR-4 was what I heard, bro.
Thanks Sir beegs! Such a paltry number though. These were bought as second hand returned by Iraq to Ukraine, I suppose. The Iraqis realised they were rusting at some welded joints and the armour was also cracking.
One can assume Nigeria’s case is the same, amongst other countries.
NA WAH O
haha, isn’t that funny, if only we have a government that reacts swiftly to things, we should be posting the response from our own government on here right now, not that of Pakistan.
Saudis, smh
Greetings to the great patriot. Mr MCSHEGZ. I don’t always agree with you but I respect your honesty and also your patriotism nomatter what. I would just like to respectfully remind you that in nigeria’s case, the regim did not deny it, nor did it publicly call the saudis for explanation. Let us not generalize what happened to pakistan to the entire pack. Rest assured of my sincerest respect sir.
Oga mi. where you go hide na, you just abandon us for here, which level, hehehe.
Even though we do not always agree sir 😉 you have been greatly missed.
Truly, we are all patriots in our own way Oga; you are evidently one of such.
Oga Igbi. I respect your hustle sir
Can you guys just look at ourselves oga Igbi and are james,this is surpose to be a defence blog not a political one,before I started commenting on this blog I av been a keen follower of this blog,I was trilled to see differend pple from differend tribes of Nigeria puting Nigeria first before anything,then suddenly election came and u guys started foolling and desrespecting this blog and yoursleves because of politice
Do you guys know that the younger generation do read and follow this blog,they see u guys as heroes(puting the good of Nigeria first),and then they see you guys like this,what do you think they will feel(I find myself in that category)you guys are doing the younger generation a huge service,now you guys want to spoil it cos of politice,cos that is what has always bring disrepute to this blog and oga igbi hope u do stay cos if u don’t u are doing a huge disservice to this Nation
Please let’s go back to what this blog was known for,which is putting Nigeria above tribe,religion and self
Bros, my advise is to not spend too much time onlign. Live your life and don’t put too much hopes on a blog. Take care and I hope your life is full with success.
It is like Fela personaly knew buratai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_ODwq7jm3E
http://www.adelove.com/lobatan-watch-this-video-showing-nigerian/
I watched this video, though the audio was not clear or understand what was said, the NA officer showed a lot of Discipline in front of provocation, there was a scene where a soldier took up firing position and was told to step down by the Snr Officer approaching the mob, though I could not see any fire arms, there were lots of machetes, clubs, sticks and what looked like arrows ( Maitatsine hoards also did not display firearms , but were equally devastating) , the possession looked far from being peaceful march.
The mob seemed worked up, could it be due to the bomb blast they suffered last week and the fact that Zakyzaky told them it was not from BH, but Nigerian security forces.
It was really unfortunate the way things turned out, They actually over stepped there bounds and refused all peaceful entreaties by the NA officers.
Like I said earlier maybe the Snr Officers had other Intel not available for the public, that Mob would not have peacefully dispersed.
Still there has to be a means of dosing or neutralizing the event
I believe the order to shoot cae from the officer who was not man enough to come out and discuss with the crowd unlike his brave juniors. If the road was blocked by an “angry mob” (in my humble opinion, angry protesters would fit them better), then what happened with going the other way and calling the police to complain for unlawful conduct of some people ?
Even the wildest conspiracy theory would certainly not justify why after the convoy had passed (by the means of bullets) the soldiers went to the house of elzakzaki to beat him up and kill some more. Whoever gave that order (I think we all know who) should at least be let go off the service.
how can such a senior officer forget that his mission is to protect the people nomatter their rudeness and nomatter their religion. Those people were not foreigners and elzakzaki’s house was not a foreign land. I see nothing which justifies unleashing the army on those citizens. Where was the police in all of this ? Who gave the soldiers the right to go into people’s houses, to surrender houses and shoot, to demolish houses ? Was the state of emergency ?
was the state under emergency rule ?
When my Dad was in the army, there was a time he had an altercation with some civilians, a few of his soldiers were with him, he ordered them not to intervene and he tried as best he could to settle the problem peacefully. My Dad’s attempts failed and instead of ordering his soldiers to shoot, he took the other way and avoided the civilians. After that my Dad went to the DPO’s office to launch a complaint. My mother was very anoid that my dad didn’t take a more robust action. But he reminded her that he was there to serve the people, not kill the people.
We are proud of him a proper officer and gentleman, Hope we have more like him left or being groomed up
Chai Igbi….
http://news.yahoo.com/activists-nigeria-military-killed-hundreds-shiites-114459130.html
“Human rights advocates and the United States called for an investigation following the Nigerian army’s raid on a Shiite sect in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.”
Imagine Iran calling our own President to tell him to compensate victims , what on earth
I thought I was the only one who noticed.
It was not just that.
It was a “To do list” that the President of Iran gave to our President about what to do for our own people who were actively resisting our own security agents.
The President should have asked him if people are allowed to form militias in Iran or go on sectarian marches disturbing public peace.
Oga Are, that’s the price we have to pay for military weakness.
Our weakness encourages adventurers like Iran to poke their noses into Nigeria’s business.
http://news.yahoo.com/activists-nigeria-military-killed-hundreds-shiites-114459130.html
Nigerian Govt must articulate there position before responding. Was there intel of massing up for an imminent attack on the city that prompted the pre-emptive strike on staging areas.
Others who do not care a hoot about the Shiites, have found their voice to condemn the FGN
Injustice anywhere is injustice evrywhere. It is not about “caring for the shiits”, it is about standing for justice. The people have the right to chose their religion, that is no business of mine. But when you send the army, my army, the people’s army to exterminate them then you have made the whole affair my business.
ah oga igbi welcome back, hope u wont go nuclear again. cos this moments call for calm thoughts. easy on the pedal
sorry guys, i have no problems with you guys, and the fact that i read your comments should testify. I am just extremely pained at what nigeria has become. I can’t believe I was actually planning to come back a few years ago. Right now it is out of the question.
Oga Igbi is back………run for cover….just kidding bruv. this incident shld nt be hard to investigate cos obviously the whole thing was caught on camera. The video we saw was obviously edited to remove the “action part”. Lets see what the official response. Nothing we are seeing in Naija is new. Recent revelations are just symptoms of a sick system. E go better
Ha! Oga Igbi! Always uncompromising with your convictions.
Welcome back, and don’t go anywhere this time.
My reference is to other countries who do not really care about the Nigerian Shiites (as mentioned in the article)
Oga Igbi, I hail thee! We don’t seldom see eye to eye but on this issue, I stand right beside u! However, pls don’t let anyone bait u to stoop low and make it personal (to the extent of arguementum @ hominem), for once, u’re standing taller than a lot of us here! I respect ur hustle!
Then again, I eagerly await my govt’s response to all this! I hope we’ve not just squander capital out of sheer foolishness yet again! @ some point, the debt (political capital and popular goodwill) will become so mounting that Greece (their’s is mostly financial) will be a walk in the park!
The situation was avoidable, both sides bear blame here but the military bear the preponderance … It is needless to shoot into a crowd carrying sticks and stones, looks like the perfect opportunity for non lethal, the force used is disproportionate. Let them at least charge you before you lay down rounds, and what the heck is the subsequent attacks on various Shia facilities supposed to be? Seems the NA knows how to hold a grudge.
I would be remiss in not welcoming back the single most truculent individual I have had the displeasure of making his acquaintance on this blog, the loud and obnoxious Igbi, spitting fire and calling names, self serving and self acknowledged smartest dude in the room, deep from France. Who is unfortunately not using his spell check function at this time. Sorry to troll you bro, but your spelling is making my head hurt, please fix it if you can.
I am hurt that you did not note me in your name calling, I had hoped to have been remembered in some small way, Welcome back, shall we commence the festivities? First off, totally disagree with your assessment of Lt Gen Buratai, Jimmy put you in your place and showed you up yet you insisted on calling him a “propagandist” , learn to listen and take correction.
I agree disproportionate force was used in resolving the Shia issue, yes it was a power play that failed from the sect, yet lives were lost all in the name of posturing and pride, there has to be a better way. Ideally some reason for giving the order to shoot, or a soldier should be court martialled for firing the first shot and starting the fusillade , I would not go after the Head Honcho at this time, after all.. we do have a war going on.
Oga Roscoe ,I was going through some personal stuff Father in law is seriously sick .Thank you for cheering me up . Lol been left of the “list” .
@Oga Jimmy, God keep your Father in law… glad you saw the humor in my complaint, make him no too quick forget us na…
There is a warning from the Iranian military on facebook that they will revenge.
Pls Note: This Facebook page is not the official medium for the Iranian military; such overt threats are uncharacteristic of any state security service.
Oga Kola Adekola. I respect your hustle sir.
Oga mcshegz, we should take that threat seriously since it is a page used by the Iranian military community and no administrator has seen sense to take it down.
I outrightly stand against military action against civilians in as much as the civilians were VERY wrong. Nevertheless, this is Nigeria. Whether this page is real or not, Nigeria should take a serious diplomatic step against this insult. The Nigerian authority should summon the Iranian ambassador and make him confirm the authenticity of this facebook account and the message. If this is not done, in an extraordinary show of force, the Iranian Ambassador should be expelled and Iran should be reported to the UNSC for sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria.
I hate the bad press the army has bought for itself, this should have been a police action. Nevertheless, this sect is not an innocent bunch of people. The internet is rife with news on how they have maltreated innocent Nigerians in the past during their procession. This is Nigeria, the roads belong to everyone paying tax in the country and every citizen of Nigeria. If those they met were not soldiers, perhaps they would have killed innocent travellers and proceeded to riot and loot. Nigeria is a secular state and even if it is an Islamic country, that still does not give the right to any sect to just rise up and barricade the road, denying other citizens the right of safe passage. No one should jut rise up and do whatever he/she likes in the country. Just as the country has dealt with Biafra agitation through police and political means, the same way these elements should have been dealt with. Iran should however be placed where it belongs, enough of terrorism sponsorship by Iran and Lebanon in Nigeria. Time for Nigeria to take a hardline stance against state sponsored extremism and terrorism in Nigeria. If the elements so much love Iran, they should pack and go.
We rightly spent so much sweat defending our army and country against the likes of Amnesty International and sections of the Western press, but here we are today with not just a story, but one that is provable with video, photo and physical evidence.
WHY?
There is now little that can be done to defend ourselves from any future press onslaught. In fact, a full grown ugly elephant can be spun from any of the strands of this utterly tragic, wicked and foolish event. The incident is very sickening, unbelievable and violates the spirit; life is sacred and Nigeria must be seen to act in civilised ways.
What should the COAS have done in the face of an intransigent crowd? He should have called the police and taken a different route. The police might have been backed by soldiers to pick up as many of the crowd as possible without spilling blood; then they could have gone further to arrest and try el-Zakzaky before a law court. All done neatly and all aims achieved without the slightest controversy.
You don’t even see soldiers on the streets abroad, why is it different with us? Soldiers are not police and our army must not be demystified by the foolish acts of a few. A resignation or two and dismissals accompanied by due punishment should follow.
As for the Shiites who in some boneheaded way see themselves more as Iranian than Nigerian, we urgently need a framework against which we can build Nigerianness, pride in the country, unity and self-belief. Let Nigeria be the mother we all instinctively run to, not religion, not ethnicity, not the section of the country we hail from.
My Oga’s, my heart is heavy.
Your post is a little too reasonable and this is not a good thing.
You have discussed the isdue without adding context.
Please Google the man’s name, the movement name and read through all the riots associated with these guys. The fact that they have been doing wrong things and getting away with it and we have become desensitised to it does not justify that it should be allowed to continue.
The President has not hidden his policy thrusts; ” I will secure the country, tackle corruption and diversify the economy”. I don’t think a lot of Nigerians listen to their government.
We have written here so much about pro active actions in the area of internal security so i think it is a little unfair what we are saying in defending the Shias .
Nigerians are funny people. If these guys had inflicted casualties on the COAS or members of the convoy, the same mouths would be saying the most annoying stuff along the lines of “a whole COAS not even being able to defend himself”, or such brain dead questions like “are we even safe in this country?” or the most rankling which would be ” shebi they said GEJ was not a good CIC, why are we having these problems with an ex general in office?”…
We have evolved to think like this.
This is why I am happy that the FG did not dis appoint. They struck at camps developing in the Calabar area in the first few months in office, they have picked up a lot of corrupt people and defence budget thieves. Let who wants to pick the cudgel do so… but there will be CONSEQUENCES.
These Shia guy should ask his masters if he has this kind of freedom in IRAN. Can he do all these in Tehran?.Build and fund an active militia, go on threatening public marches to awe and faze opposing sects?. Let us get serious.
As far as I am concerned, the government should do MORE things like this so that there would be two options open to our growing restive youth population;
either you take advantage of the novel social welfare programs being rolled out for the first time in this country or you engage in militancy /crime and you receive bullets.
Clear and simple.
My oga your last paragraph is the simple, award winning (IMHO) solution to our youth militancy problems. This is because Nigerians never react/respond unless faced with really hard choices.
Perhaps we all should wait until we hear from the Government and not some eyewitnesses a lot of this also happened at night, who was there to count bodies? Even right now there is no access to the sites.
Will be wise to wait and hear what the military has to say in detail.
Role of Saudi-led ‘military alliance’ put to question as some members reject participation
https://www.rt.com/news/326161-saudi-military-coalition-questioned/
Haha! Those are the idiots fighting as industrialised and advanced as Russia in a do-or-or-die oil war, yet Saudi’s only commodity is oil. Trust such nitwits to create a coalition of countries that are not aware that they are partnership with them. Wonderful!
Who knows? maybe some drugged up Saudi prince dreamt up the entire business.
–fighting a country that’s as industrialised and advanced as Russia–
Your last paragraph summarises what should be the informed view on the Saudi military coalition. It is not serious, they don’t expect it to to be taken serious and they don’t even have the capacity to weld such a coalition together. I have watched some of their intellectuals and thought leaders discuss this on their national TV. They want to assert not only regional leadership but also leverage on their ownership of holy site to achieve some global leadership.
Col. Sani Usman – Army Spokesman (Channels TV)
…More. Col. Sani Usman – Army Spokesman (Channels TV)
https://www.naij.com/668954-revealed-nigerias-first-ever-locally-built-helicopter.html
were those ceiling fan blades? haha, oh man, but hey, guy try
Hehehe his intentions are honorable. However, i would ask that the Commissioner of police of Oyo state place the man in protective custody to prevent him endangering his and other lives by trying to get that ‘thing’ aloft. LoLz.
(Having said that, i cannot rule out the possibility that people may have have made similar calls when the Wright bros first put together their aircraft)
You do know that the wright brothers were by today’s standards illiterate, neither finished high school. Accepted the “Helicopter” is crude but the fact that he has sacrificed his personal income we should encourage the man.
We should be wary in this country. A miltary known for its heavy handedness is challenged by a group of aggressive people who appeared to be hell bent on some form of trouble. Doesn’t sound like a run of the mill incident in these parts. Someone or some people may be pulling mad puppet strings. Trying to ignite some shiite on sunni conflict. All the visible actors have played their parts and acted true to character, we must look for the unseen actors. I just beleive that there is something orchestrated about the whole thing.
The two contenders met, with all their troops, on the field of Camlan to negotiate. Both sides were fully
armed and desperately suspicious that the other side was going to try some ruse or stratagem. The
negotiations were going along smoothly until one of the knights was stung by an asp and drew his sword
to kill the reptile. The others saw the sword being drawn and immediately fell upon each other. A
tremendous slaughter ensued.
—HERMAN KAHN,On Thermonuclear War
the quote above is an excerpt from Tom Clancy’s SUM of ALL Fears. its depicts how highly charged situations can go south via a small action.
Adetayo’s Blog, both your posts are totally on point this morning.
Wisdom says we should keep a sharp eye out for hidden puppeteer’s and state players (eg Saudi and Iran).
We must be very wary of becoming any 3rd parties battleground, to spill blood and emotions, split our country for the benefit of 3rd parties, while they themselves develop and have peace.
It is unfortunate that many Nigerians (and our government too) feel such a low sense of self/national worth that there is a constant need to validate ourselves – not according to our Nigerianness – but according to 3rd party rules, 3rd party accents, 3rd party cultures, 3rd party religion’s etc.
That low sense of self/national worth is also the reason we can end life in an almost bestial way, or not care when a person dies, “because they are Shia” or because “they are Urhobo” or because “they are Hausa”. There is no love for our fellow Nigerian, because we lack a national foundation from which unity, love and a single vision can flow naturally.
With Nigerians taking cover in their various foxholes (be it religion, ethnicity, region etc), trigger finger ready, it falls on the government to immediately ease tensions, so that no stray spark creates an inferno that consumes us all.
Above all, the FG must seek immediate ways to provide each and every citizen with a sense of belonging that’s so strong that anybody who goes around on Nigerian soil, doing such things as flying flags emblazoned with photographs or Iranians, Saudi’s, Sudanese etc would seem like the self-loathing crackpot that they are.
We need to look within to love Nigeria and love ourselves.
“photographs of Iranians, Saudi’s, Sudanese etc”
Most Nigerians owe 2nd allegiance to Nigeria, their first allegiance goes to a religion, tribe, sect or political affiliation. we have lost sight of the forest cos of the trees. we no longer value what is right , we value the connection that exists between the actor and us, if the connection exists, he/she can do o wrong.
What is surprising no one has answered the question what if the COAS had been killed? The response would of been the Army did not do enough to protect him.People are defending the rights of a man who at best does not view himself as a Nigerian will trample upon your rights, reality hit home for him last weekend, maybe he should move to Iran.
Oga Ola, well balanced thoughts!
Oga Kola, ur speak with wisdom sir, I wish we have more of u around!
Oga Are James, good morning sir. I remember that back in the day, ur opinions on the Nigerian Army’s issues with HRW weren’t this favourable! I know u’re a man of rules and principles…perhaps the just shift a little as dispensation changes! I don’t see any ‘proactiveness’ here, I just see extra judicial killing. The Nigerian Army is an institution governed by law, Nigerian Law. I can’t remember where it says that the Nigerian army affects arrest! Back in the Odi days, the action was a police action led by the Police with the Army in support! But for the ambush and the reactionary response of the army, it would have gone down the annals as one of those glory moments!
What is it with this craziness when the life our a military officer is threatened?
Don’t get me wrong, I salute the courage of those who stay awake so that I can sleep, who sacrifice their lives to keep mine safe! Who slave it for us with meager pay and trash equipment! That being said, I hold them to the highest standards because the have a training I don’t have! Because the currency of their trade is discipline! Because they are our heroes, my heroes and are one of the few institutions we still look up to!
This is not about who the shias are but what the Nigerian Army is
I still maintain that there were option that would have been employed and until the govt and the army convince me otherwise, I think it was all very foolish! Especially when we are not in any position to add another crisis to our plate and when our enemies are scheming in broad day light to end or decapitate our enterprise
Oga Ozed, on point! Until we have a concerted effort to move forward in the sci-tech space, we will continue to have solo efforts like this! Imagine that since I was born, all the hatch ups like this all over this country had some significant contribution and redirect by the govt, we would be thinking of launching a probe to the moon by now
Oga Adetayo, thank u for being one of the few who have enough presence of mind to look around even in the fog of war! I salute u sir.
Goodmorning CyberG’s. I think the issue of Shia should be resolved amicably and laid to rest. This sect has been caught so many times blocking public roads and path during procession and ceremonies.
I think last year, 3 of his children were killed during this same procession. Why will someone be so “heady/nutty/stubborn/indifference” to the plight of other road users? In as much as i dont agree with the high-handedness of the troop, i quite agree and support the army response of “Act-and-talk-later”. A good offense is a good defense. Had it been the COAS had been rounded-up and killed/injured, some of you would have come here to blame him for not acting when he sense danger.
Someone here is claiming they are “peaceful”, whatever name you wish to give to them, you’re OYO. If it was indeed a peaceful sect, they would have atleast RESPECT the office of the COAS and give him safe passage. We all have the rights to the road(s), so nobody should lord over a public properties and convert that to personal use while denying others the usage of same.
This is an article dated 2014
http://www.nairaland.com/2038100/gumi-chides-zakzaky-says-processions An Islamic scholar, Sheik Abubakar Gumi, has accused the Head of the Shiite Islamic sect in Nigeria, Mallam Ibraheem El-Zakzakky, of being a bad influence on fellow Muslims in the country, saying that he was a candidate for hell unless he repented.
Gumi said in a condolence letter to El-Zakzakky over the reported recent killing of his three children in Kaduna yesterday that he (El-Zakzakky) had introduced a lot of bad innovations among Nigerian Muslims, adding that rather than unite, such bad influences were dividing the Islamic faithful.
The letter read in part: “After registering my condolences on the recent loss of your three children, who were gunned down by some elements in the military, I find it an obligation to help you see that some of your actions too are the contributing factors in this unfortunate avoidable tragedy.
“What I fear most for you and your followers is that the consequence of this tragedy may further alienate your group from the mainstream society and create a cult—if it is not already one — with disastrous consequences on you, your followers and the nation at large. For you especially, on the Day of Judgment you will have your account to answer.
Bad innovations
“My brother, you have brought a lot of bad innovations among Nigerian Muslims that rather than unite, the Muslims are further entrenching the divide without any added value to the worldly development nor the hereafter, but rather with serious theological implications in the hereafter.
“What triggered my attention to your group now is the most recent close encounter I had with a procession of your followers on the highway from Kano to Zaria yesterday (December 8, 2014) on my way to Dutse (Jigawa State). About four to six thousand youths and children trekking long distance for hours. I gave a two-hour lecture in Dutse and met them still trekking on my way back.
“I cannot understand under which civil or religious law you have the right and liberty to block one side of the double carriage road forcing motorists to cramp each other dangerously on one lane. If your action is to propagate your creed, I am telling you, you will only attract the poor, young ignorant miscreants of the society. Never the sane except of course the disgruntled.
Delinquency of your followers
“The delinquency of your followers and the disturbance of public peace is what makes you and them an easy target of the authority. This is happening when you can as well do very well without such unscrupulous public misbehaviour. Disruption of traffic flow is in fact a sign of unfaithfulness and lack of civilization.”
“You are blocking roads and forcing vehicles to dangerously face each other on one lane displaying arrogance and lawlessness. Young men brandishing knives and unsheathed swords, beating their chest, carrying inciting placards and chanting hate songs.
“How can you be the good servants of Allah when you are exactly opposite of what the Quran described them?
“My Brother, you have already lost three children on this path to perdition and shirk, so please repent and do not capitalise on the ignorance of our gullible youths to mislead them. If you don’t correct them now, when you die, Allah will not forgive you for whatever deviation they may add to yours.
“That they may bear their burdens entirely on the day of resurrection and also of the burdens of those whom they lead astray without knowledge; now surely evil is what they bear.”
“My Brother, I write you this open letter for others also not necessarily in your sect to get admonition. It is never intended to trigger a sectarian argument. It is about public order and mannerism.
“May Allah guide us all to his pleasure and give us the courage to revert to the truth and what is righteous.”
END OF QOUTE.
Oga colloid, delinquency is common all over the North. It is what happens when children do not get an education or upbringing, so have no future prospect and therefore, nothing to lose. Hopelessness breeds bestiality.
GEJ’s convoy was repeatedly stoned in the North by people who were not identified as Shiites. There is a massive problem in the North that is just reaching tipping point, it is a tinderbox that waiting to explode.
Delta state has the highest GDP per capita in Nigeria, very closely followed by Lagos and Rivers states, Jigawa on the other hand, has the lowest. The average person in Delta state makes SEVEN times more money than the average Jigawan. In the same country!
Do you know the difference between Delta state and Jigawa? One word – education.
It is nearly impossible to imagine that the COAS would have been blocked in states like Lagos, Delta and Rivers. Again, the difference is education.
There needs to be an emergency programme to educate the North, otherwise we will all be sorry.
Thank you very much for this. This is very true but let me add a few somethings-
El Zakyzak has a first class honours degree in one of the social sciences and I think he was trained abroad. One of the highest IQs in Nigeria according to the a account of those who know him.
Listen to his daughter’s interview and you get the full picture about the level of pedigree and cosmopolitanism of the upbringing he has given to his children. You would think same would be extended to his ‘followers’..well think again.
So, why are almost all the elites in the north like this in their attitude to social development . RICH/EDUCATED & POOR/UNEDUCATED? – POWER.
Also they seem to have pastimes -when they are not looting government resources they are using their worldly intellectual and financial advantages to form militias, Almajiri followers to negotiate power from the FG sometimes at the behest of western or middle eastern governments sometimes for themselves.
Even the opposing Sunni camp in the north headed for many years by Sheikh Gxxx the dad of the current one is not any better. So it is not just a Shia thing. That Sheikh has also been put in his place by many strong Heads of State in Nigeria
It is also not a wholly northern thing. You are very wrong on the geographical spread of these localised ‘micro-fascist’ tendencies. The Niger Delta is also not better than this as the same culture pervades. Once you get out of the urban areas the warlords ruke. Warlords are in control in Gbaramantu , Southern Ijaw and Okirika of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers respectikely.
The assignment for Buhari is to destroy these anti democratic and retrogressive forces. The previous government was headed by an appeaser. This government should not make that mistake.
Thank you Oga Arejames .We have tried the Appeasement policy before. Look @ where it got us.Heck we even gave one individual so much money he did not know what to do with it.Point of Correction Lagos State has the Highest GDP and IGR.
Oga Kola Adekola, i agree with your assessment. I will pivot abit to your words if that would bring the change Nigeria seeks. If most Northerner youth lacks education, i think the reason for the creation of NOA is for (RE-)orientation which to me, NOA isn’t living up to.
***There is a massive problem in the North that is just reaching tipping point, it is a tinderbox that waiting to explode.*** i feared that that tinderbox is already exploding(but on a smaller scale). The issue of BH is part of the explosion. BH was a sect(salafist i presume) like this sect(shiite/shia) before the army descend on their base and killed some of their members in a gun duel and arrest their leader–that spiralled into the terrorism we are witnessing today.
Same thing is replicating before our very eyes today– the killing of the shiites and the destruction of their leader’s house and HQ.
The military should tread softly on this.
But, in the case of the convoy blockade, it’s a nice/fast/precise/accurate and proactive measure understaken by the convoy.
“Protesting” and “Procession” are two distinct different things. If actually those Guys aint a threat to the security of the convoy(let’s assume they were UNARMED as reported), they wont have blocked a police convoy not to mention a Military General’s convoy since they are aware they have NOTHING to fight with.
But, for them to block the convoy shows they have SOMETHING with them that’s giving the false hope of reprisal if the soldiers attack them.
Last year december, three of his children were killed by soldiers on this same issue of blocking roads and constituting hindrances to other road users, see what happened this year as well– lost house, and one of his wives all because of SELF-inflicted arrogance/ignorance and “above-the-law” mentality.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Abeg, i’m done with this. Let’s move onto something sensible please.
Oga Are James, the problem of youthful delinquency is a purely Northern phenomenon brought about by abandonment of the Northern youth to lives of begging, vagrancy and illiteracy. To deny that is to deny the obvious. The admission of a problem is the first step to curing it.
No COAS or President has had their convoy’s path either blocked or stoned in the Niger Delta. It is not something that can even the wildest bout of imagination can dream to happen anywhere in the South or Middle Belt. For example, even with the height of agitation for Biafra, the COAS path would neither be blocked, nor would he be stoned in the South East.
In the same vein, you will not find any group of people anywhere in the South or Middle Belt that would be willing to fly Iranian, Saudi, Sudanese etc flags. It just will not happen, because the overwhelmingly large groups of illiterates to fool to do it does not exist in those places.
Education is the key difference, along with the hope at life and wealth of opportunities it brings.
We need to educate the Northern child as a matter of urgency in order to bring Northern standards of life and northern hopes and aspirations to the par with the South, otherwise we will be staring into the abyss.
“to par with the South”
“the overwhelmingly large groups of illiterates to fool to do it do not exist in those places”
Chai! My Oga’s, abeg mek una no vex for all my typo’s. And no be say I drink sef. 😦
Oga Jimmy, GDP is a different concept from GDP per capita. So, you are very wrong.
GDP is the entire product, while GDP per capita is the economic output per person.
Take the GDP of Delta and divide it by the population of the state and the figure is slightly higher than the equivalents from both Lagos and Rivers states.
Thank you Oga Colloid.
http://www.thealpenanews.com/page/content.detail/id/1001196/Activists–Nigeria-military-killed-hundreds-of-Shiites.html?isap=1&nav=5014
***”Nigeria’s Shiites, a movement of millions started 37 years ago by Zakzaky, who dresses in the robes and turban of an Iranian ayatollah, often have clashed with police and other security forces over their unlawful blocking of major roads to hold religious processions.
The Shiites two weeks ago suffered a suicide bombing in a procession that killed 22 people. Boko Haram, a Salafist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to “wipe out” the Shiites opposed to its radical vision of Islam.*** One thing is to oppose terrorism, another thing is to oppose those fighting it. Because BH bombed your procession doesn’t mean you should block and attack a Military convoy. BTW, if this was a civilian convoy, is this how those of you condemning the action of the troops be talking? Had it been the convoy were civilian, and were attacked by this sect, will you have voice support to condemn the civilian for trying to seek a passge through their procession on a PUBLIC road that they paid their tax on?
***The army said troops attacked sites in Zaria after 500 Shiites blocked the convoy of Nigeria’s army chief, and tried to kill him on Saturday. A report from the military police said some Shiites were crawling through tall grass toward Gen. Tukur Buratai’s vehicle “with the intent to attack the vehicle with (a) petrol bomb” while others “suddenly resorted to firing gunshots from the direction of the mosque.”
Ojo Momodu, a witness, said the Shiites barricaded the road with burning tires as Buratai approached and then stoned his convoy. The group, however, denied that it blocked the road.***
they shouldn’t even denied the blockade, it’s what every insane person in the country does. Even in my neigbourhood, that’s how they do erect their tents on public roads even if they are doing naming ceremony. It’s conspicous.
I do not agree with the killings but i support the defense erected by the COAS and his convoy.
My grouse is a little different.
It is not actually with the guard detail on the COAS convoy. When you are surrounded (or about to be surrounded) by stick and machete wielding hostile strangers, only a fool will watch and do nothing, and no one wants to lose the COAS on his watch.
I would only say that if the COAS respected lives a bit more, he would have made a detour to proactively avoid the mob. The truth is that if those guys were armed with even just automatic rifles, it is unlikely the COAS would have made it out alive.
Having said that, i am even willing to excuse the rash decision to open fire once the convoy was in the danger of being swamped.
What no one can convince me to excuse is the subsequent per-meditated attack in force on the group in their quarters, and the continued shooting for over 5 hours at persons who it is now apparent had no firearms.
This sad act leads one to conclude that our troops are a little too brave when facing unarmed civilians, whereas they are in many cases not quite as brave as we would like when facing people with the ability and willingness to shoot back.
Regarding the challenges faced by Nigeria, i made up my mind several years ago while living in the North, that this Country can go no where as long as the North remains backward. In deed no country can realize its potential while close to half its population and majority of its landmass is essentially untrained and in many cases untrainable!!
More frustrating for the more developed blocs of the Country is that the elite in the North seems to prefer to keep the northern masses as uneducated and malleable as they currently are in order to assure them selves a dedicated non-questioning follower ship in the complex chess game that Nigeria has become.
Am with you on the attack on their quarters. that is difficult to impossible to explain away. I wonder what they were thinking. that was like jungle justice
They went to arrest the guy. The Shiites played themselves out when they resisted. The way to do this is to take a private car to police HQ to explain what happened not to hide in a bunker and leave a mob of young people to resist the army. You guys can keep making excuses for this guy. Please note that he is actually one of the elites in the north that we are complaining about.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-helping-west-african-troops-fight-isis-linked-boko-haram/
Looks like the US is about to have a drone base next door to us, these are things we probably have nothing to detect if these drones spend 2000 hrs in our airspace
“Kwene told CBS News since Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to ISIS their tactics have changed. Their bombs are more sophisticated and deployed with deadly frequency.”
hahahahaha…fo real? how much more sophistication can one implore into making a suicide vest, what, are they using robots now; funny people; by the way, CBS? they still exist? 😉
“The United States forces is providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to the Cameroonian forces,”
We cannot stress this enough; Nigeria, especially certain parts of the North-East require consistent, persistent, round-the-clock, eyes in the sky, to provide actionable and reliable intelligence that enables effective counterinsurgency; this coupled with the enviable HUM-INT capabilities of DHQ will ensure there are no re-occurrences of these dastardly acts.
NAIJA. I HAIL THEE.
Sir Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
They have one in Agadez, Niger and another one will be soon (if not already) operationa in Garoua, Cameroun. French ISR assets operate in N’djamena, Chad and French SF are openly in Diffa Region
Iranian officials call for intervention in Nigeria after anti-Shia violence
http://www.albawaba.com/news/iranian-officials-call-intervention-nigeria-after-anti-shia-violence-781710
story
Yea Oga, story, wait until they send truck load of weapons into Nigeria.
We’ve seen that before.
Iran is not to be trusted or it’s evil intentions ignored. They can easily spark a conflict in Nigeria, they have that reach
hehehe. Oga.
OK. so they send a ship load of arms and ammunition to Nigeria; to achieve what exactly, you say to “spark a conflict in Nigeria” how? to what end? If its to “defend their Shia brothers” dont you think that just gives DHQ more legitimate impetus to completely eliminate and rout such threats? talk about shooting oneself in the foot. Iran has a lot of issues to deal with at the moment, least of which should be Nigeria, but hey, emotions can certainly get the better of seemingly intelligent individuals.
“they have that reach” what reach are you talking about sir, reach to support groups in other countries to carry out certain actions? what independent, 600 billion dollar economy doesn’t have such reach 😉 abeg oga. free me
NAIJA. I HAIL THEE.
Sir Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
But indeed, i agree sir; Threats should never be overlooked.
haha, brother, We live in a country full of poverty with many gullible, easily manipulated people, wasn’t there a butcher who joined Bh all because they promised him was it 700 or 7,000 naira, guess what, he took that deal and killed for them, not because he believed in what bh stands for.
So that’s what i meant, Iran can cause trouble within our country by using our own people, yes we can rout , kill and fight them (The sect), but how many innocent people will be lost in the process? How many innocent have died during this war with BH? there is no win for us even if BH is completely eliminated, its Nigeria’s’ loss, not Iran’s .
So yes we both agree, we must never overlook threats, especially from Iran, with its thousands, if not millions of supporters within our territory, Iran can easily use them against our government.
You know what oga, on further thought, this phantom Iranian threat might just be in recent memory, the best thing that’ll ever happen to Nigeria’s defense sector ;-). At least, finally, Nigeria will stop comparing herself with the likes of Cameroon and Chad, hehehehehe. So, Oga, lets prop up and inflate this Iranian threat, might inject some certain sense of urgency into our military industry.. hehehe.. i dey your back.
NAIJA. I HAIL THEE.
Sir Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
And we sent them to Kirikiri end of Story.Nigeria is not the Middle East.
When a nation state is undefined by its’ people, it will be defined by foreigners for their own interests.
We are desperately trying to run a unitary system ( set up by the military to favour their command structure) in a nation state that demands by default,a federation if not confederation by virtue of its social, political,cultural and religious disparity.
Nigeria is a purely federal state.
So having shocked you with that initial statement I want you to ask yourself who is straitjacketing the states and why is true federalism not being practised?.
The whole talk about about true federalism is like having prison doors open, the release papers signed, transport waiting and still complaining about being locked up.
Politicians have inherited the same unitary system culture from the military and they like it. It is all about dispensation of patronage from the center.
There is nothing holding back the practice of true federalism in Nigeria but corruption. Maybe when we have truly radical governors the truth will come out. If a governor in Nigeria sets out to act as a free federation entity in the country and the move is challenged at the Supreme Court he will win the case. It is prominent and stated clearly in the constitution, Nigeria is a federation.
Oga Are James, can you not see that all your statements conflict with each other?
How can a rentier system that dispenses patronage from the centre ever be mistaken for one that practises federalism or “true federalism” as we like to call it (in recognition of the fact that it is a lie)?
Apart from voodoo, nothing can convert a patronage system to a federal system, otherwise we would call the mafia a form of federation – no one does patronage better than the mafia.
More importantly (if you understand the meaning of corruption), any patronage system is inherently corrupt, because it is about buying (or bribing) for influence. So, if you further argue that corruption is the only thing stopping the practice of true federalism, then you will trip over your very own words.
Federalism is far from a simplistic concept and touches on several deep structures of statehood, citizen rights, asset ownership/management, such as fair use of resources (not just oil); eg who owns the land (Land Use Act), who owns the water (National Inland Waterways Authority Decree) etc.
You do not quite catch what i am trying to say here. There is a consistency in all i say.
I always hold the individual responsible, especially those voted into leadership positions.
The practice of patronage dispensation from the center was not hard coded into the constitution. People made it so especially the politicians who were voted into the immediate Republic that came after Abacha which in essence is the PDP. It suited them to practice the old military unitary system. I am also saying that the first statement in the constitution asserts Nigeria as a Federal republic and that on the basis of that alone a federating state can start asserting its rights and no Supreme court would rule against such a state.
All the talk about federalism is just going to lead to another jaw jaw jamboree and we end up putting another set of words on paper and people will go on doing what they are used to. It is one individual’s LEADERSHIP that will eventually bring federalism. One man with the vision and power can do that in one year. Until then, for the people who plot within sophisticated multi-tribal networks to steal resources at the Federal and state levels they will speak the high falutin words on public TV but nothing will happen .
Oga Are James, the patronage system is very deeply hardcoded into our constitution. You need to go and read it.
The Nigerian constitution is actually our biggest security threat.
Oga Kola and Are, I dole my hat for u in ur grasp of the problems we have in this country. U articulated it well and summarized it…power.
However, Oga Are James, I don’t wholly subscribe to ur solution. I still think we should have a mixed bag and not a one size fit all solution! Its said that to a carpenter, the solution to any problem is a hammer, but we kno that sometimes all u need do is chiseling, other times, a sand paper will solve the issue!
We remember that a lot of the troubles we faced in the past were mid-wived by this so called hammer response.
Oga Ozed, thank u very much
“More frustrating for
the more developed
blocs of the Country is
that the elite in the
North seems to prefer
to keep the northern
masses as uneducated
and malleable as they
currently are in order
to assure them selves
a dedicated non-
questioning follower…”
Sir Kay, they’ve been doing this for years
On this shia issue, if our enemies through our neibours have been causing us all these trouble, is it a trouble making factory with in house ‘raw materials’ that can’t?
As for fermenting trouble abroad, forget it abeg, we don’t have it! Do u think we can go and cause trouble in Iran? Abeg perish the thought! Yes, they have their local problems with the kurds but even the US and Israel have so much issue trying to wipe up sentiments there! Moreover, their society is not as fractured as ours!
A smart man will always take precaution in the face of threat even if it comes from the most effeminate of source! Iran as it is can hurt us more than we can hurt them!
Oga Are, we don’t practice federalism full stop! Its just a name! That’s how our constitution is and it holds us back! I’ll call it a hybrid federalism even though the constitution states that we are a federation! It denies the federating unit power to be fully federal! Everyone knows that! Its not in the semantics, its in the working
Oga Kola, enough said! I salute u
Nigeria is not much less a Federal system than the US sir. Please read both constitutions. The only difference is State Police. It is people’s practice of the constitution that is crooked. There is no reason why federating units cannot asset their power if not for mafia politics.
States in the north declared Sharia, all states are seizing LGA funds, a few states in the Niger Delta formed their own oil and gas companies, i paid taxes to Niger Delta state government when i was in Nigeria, state governors have always signed my c of o.
Wetin remain. Go to the NASS today, people who are supposed to be fightying for the practice (not new constitution) of true federalism will tell you their hands are tied.
You know you mentioned a very crucial point
“all states are seizing LGA funds” how bad did this get, well in all 36 states now if you want to be a local govt chairman you have to go an kneel, prostate or put your hand behind your back for the Gov.
How bad did things get?
The money is federal allocated to all 776 LG but in a sign of unity all GOVs regardless of Party have acted as one and stolen this money, infact there was a court case challenging this ” LEGALIZED STEALING” what happened to the court case ? Nothing!
Thank you for that, it’s what I’ve been saying.
And in ur opinion these are what make up a federal state? Pls don’t even try to compare our system with that of the US! Ours is just a form, lacking in more than one way the practices of a federation
This I don’t care way of thinking very much epitomizes this country. We don’t take things serious until it gets out of hand and then we begin to flip about and beg other countries for help!
Now that’s its budding, now that’s its nip-able, we’ll put our noses in the air and form mr invisible!
Its only in Nigeria that we play with petroleum pipelines and say its an act of God when fire breaks out! Build with substandard materials under high tension power lines and blame God when they collapse!
Here we have a volatile situation, we have a group with a grouse and support from a country who have demonstrated twice in the last 6 years their ability to circumvent our security system and bring in serious weaponry into our very porous borders to the extent that some of these weapons were found up north, very far from their presumed entry point and some of us are here forming actor and dismissing a clear and present threatening situation bragging as if we have balls of titanium and are made of what superman is made of! Mean while, we don’t have teeth to bite if we ever venture to bark!
Federalism at its best 😉
To those saying Nigeria doesn’t practice true federalism, i doubt you fully grasp the powers accorded the Governor of a state. The story above only goes to buttress Oga Are James’s point which i entirely align with;
The only reason we see governors flying to Abuja to get payed every month is just because some of them dont have the vision to implement bold and audacious plans, rather every chance they get, they keep blaming Abuja. One governor comes to mind in recent weeks, Abuja this, Abuja that; good gracious, what is your own plan, lets see if its better that Abuja’s; nothing, then you hear, “one thing we are trying to do is” trying ke? for how long do you try, action is what we need.
Implement bold plans for God’s sake, and lets see if Abuja can dare stop you, unless such Governors are not willing to stick their necks out for what they believe. And if you ask them “your excellency” what do you mean by “true federalism” they open their mouth and say revenue sharing formula, hehehe… yeye people. 😉 Governors are powerful, they need to exercise their powers to the benefit of their people.
NAIJA. I HAIL THEE.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/armyshiite-clash-el-rufai-bans-procession-probes-violence/
OGA mcshegz
Thank you for beating me too it o! lest I be called something o , Another clear cut Example is Cross River State they have embarked on one of the largest and deepest PORTS in W.africa with State of the ART highways estimated costs >$500M Estimated IGR to Cross river $??? Billions
http://news.yahoo.com/west-africa-leaders-seek-ban-full-face-veil-173858605.html
NIGERIA NOT PART OF SAUDI-LED COALITION AGAINST ISIS | The News NG
https://t.co/DvDMWMgJS0
Until this news comes form a major and credible news channel, I absolutely do not believe Nigeria is not a part of it.. Nigerian leaders have a history of signing shady deals and keeping quiet when getting the country into trouble. Which of the OIC steps taken till date was taken in public? This is not only about the federal government. At the state level too, it happens. Lagos is debt ridden today, holding 1/6th of Nigeria’s total foreign debt, how much of the borrowing process of the accumulated debt was made public to Lagosians? People need to develop the attitude to put questions to authorities if those in power are failing in their responsibility to carry the governed along. Unfortunately, I have not seen the news on this Saudi-led coalition on any major Nigerian news channel till now (I watch channels online daily and read from The Punch, Thisday and NTA too after work).
Interesting Tanzanian Special forces made the list of 23
http://www.lifedaily.com/23-most-intimidating-armed-forces-images-ever-seen/14/
Though may not be too accurate.
hehe, i just checked that out like 10mins ago, surprised to see the link here. Given the fact that it was a sponsored ad on Yahoo
Yea its rubbish of course. Tanzania made that list and happens to be the only African country there, that makes no sense.
My Ogas, I salute! Sometime u guys make me wonder! We are supposed to be a 3 tier federation and constitutionally, one tier has a chain round the neck of another in ur own account yet, this is a federation! Haba now! What make think I was only referring to states? Abi the LGA no be part of the federation too?
As for Calabar, thank Gos for this new project. But pls, do u remember a certain Tinapa project? How come it doesn’t work and didn’t bring in the billions it was projected to? When u unravel that mystery, then visit ur definition of federalism again and ask urself if we practice federalism whether it be true or whatever!
The truth as usual is somewhere in the middle. A lot of freedom has been handed the States, which they are not even leveraging.
However, many key components of what a real federation entails are still missing and these key aspects dampen our appreciation of what true Federalism can bring to the table.
E.g.
– The LG which is a key federating unit is actually dead to all intents and purposes. This is both SG and FG’s faults.
– Unclear lines as to some areas of concurrent legislation – as typified by the running battle between Lagos State Govt and FG regarding the inland water ways. As a result Lagos is restricted in how it can leverage the waterways it is blessed with because most of them must be dredged frequently and while they can afford to do it, FG still claims ownership.
– Mineral rights – Most of the minerals are still in FG hands meanwhile they are not interested in anything other than oil and gas. So states are seating on coal, gold, tin, precious stones etc. yet they are not allowed to regulate and leverage them.
– Security – This example is clear to everyone.
– Revenue allocation – There will always be rich and poor states. However until emphasis shifts from the centralized sharing arrangement we run today to one weighted heavily in favour of the main income generators, the poorer states would not be motivated to really remove the scales from their eyes and explore their natural endowments like tourism, agriculture, water bodies for power generations etc.
At the end of the day, because we have fostered a sharing mindset, we (i.e. everyone in Nigeria) are all poorer for it!!!
And this in my view is the greatest challenge of the 3 main issues facing Nigeria, (Corruption in my view is a distant third behind ethno-religious sectionalism). We simply do not produce enough to really take our per capita income to any reasonable levels. Our total reliance on oil even when it was selling at $100 pb condemns us to poverty even if corruption was zeroed out!!
My Oga, our nation is based on a patronage system (corruption) from oil and gas; do you know it is actually written into our constitution. Do you know that the constitution actually contains the words “mineral oil” and “natural gas” in several places? Can you imagine that?!
Now with oil and gas increasingly going out of fashion, what will the future Nigeria be based on (outside chaos)?
Any country that lacks a foundational philosophy will continue to be defined by foreigners, and all countries that are defined by foreigners are countries in which lack of self-esteem is rife. Whereas the greatest ingredients of development and progress are self-confidence and self-belief.
This rampant lack of self-esteem is why for example, we are so deeply in love with the Alpha jet, while countries like Ethiopia fly Su-27’s; indeed, while we were desperately scrabbling around the world for (12?) used T-72’s in our deepest time of trouble, Ethiopia not only had a whopping 300 plus, but they can actually can manufacture T-72’s locally. Further, we, Africa’s largest economy, have 148 tanks, while Ethiopia has 2,300.
What we do not understand is that the problems that are sprouting from everywhere, with almost one new one everyday is the most visible sign that our system has reached its limits – whether the problems are ombatse, boko haram, murderous nomadic cattle rearers, Iranian flag waving Shiites etc.
The signs that we have reached the limits of our junk federalism have been obvious enough for a long time though, and not just in the political/military areas. For example, we are a country of 170 million that needs a technical partnership with China to manufacture mere RPG’s.
This is so, because there is no framework to harness our large pool of geniuses. Why? Because patronage systems do not require geniuses and patronage systems do not require progress. The only friends the patronage system has are corruption and chaos, because corruption and chaos help guard and maintain the status quo.
Anybody talking about fighting corruption without restructuring the country is wasting our time.
@Kola Adekola
I agree with what you are saying but this is the way I am suggesting we look at it;
Jaguar jets + MIG 21 + Alpha jets in the 80s = Very Good ( AVM Yisa Doko, AVM Alfa )
Alpha jets + F7 + unarmed civilian planes in 2015 = Very Bad (Uncle Alex, Guy man Amosu)
There are NAMES to put against every circumstance. People to hold responsible .
Stop going to the realms of philosophy (like our coach LVG) or social psychology. We are here to score goals, defend a country, grow the economy etc. C
We had a command unitary system during the era we bought all these top of the line military systems.
Federalism was VERY POOR during Shagari era and worse during Murtala Muhammed regime before it. During Murtala regime Nigeria was running military operations and intelligence operations in S .Africa and Angola. Nigerian navy had 83 ships during Shagari regime. The Aradu ship was more sophisticated than many NATO assets.
It is all in the people and they have names.
Are James, the joy of a system that has a robust foundational philosophy is that it runs itself, you do not need to mention names. Without David Cameron, the UK will run smoothly, as will the US without a President.
The fact that we attach everything to names in Nigeria is the first visible sign of systemic failure (as are boko haram, Biafra, ombatse, Shiite wahala, Sharia wahala, importation of “toothpicks” etc).
The patient is sick and needs vital injections.
*What makes u think…
*thank God
Sorry about the typos
@Ifiok Umoeka, please permit me to bring some things into this raging argument. On paper, Nigeria operates true federalism but in reality, a lot of things are wrong. The central government in Nigeria is extremely powerful and this has been abused by successive governments. However, the state governments also have the power to do things in their states. The problem is mainly that Nigerians seem to continuously elect clueless rogues who only sees federal allocation and nothing else. Few governors care about IGRs and most don’t have a clear strategy to move their states forward to a new level. The plan is simple, sit in the office for 8 years, go to Abuja every month to collect federal allocation, pay some salaries, pay yourself and commissioners enough to support a lavish life style, pocket the remaining money and wait for the next federal allocation to come. I visit Nigeria from time to time and I remember travelling to Ondo State to see my grand ma and some cousins in 2002. I was so embarrassed to see signs that read “bear with us, this is a federal government road-ODSG” all along a very bad 30 km road stretch. Ironically, this road links several farming communities together and it’s in the heart of the state. Yes, the federal government has a noose around the necks of the state governments but the state governments have the power to do a lot and move their states forward within their legal jurisdiction but only very few have done this. The way forward for the Nigerian federation is for the states to come up with creative ways to reduce their dependence on federal allocations. Some of the things states governments can do in resource rich Nigeria to reduce this dependence on the federal government are; develop their own mineral resources sector and only pay the federal percentage to them while they keep the bulk for their own development, generate power and sell within the state, bring in industries and increase IGRs mainly by taxes, improve security by pushing for deployment of adequate number of NPF personnel which the state would largely equip and co fund, restructure the civil service and tailor them towards real service delivery and accountability, restructure and truly work with Local Council Development Areas to economically engage and empower the grass root people. Lagos has implemented some of these reformative steps and this is one of the major reasons the state stands out from others.
Let me add the following from the positive side:
– the two largest power plants recently built and successfully commissioned as successful projects were done by ..wait for it, Shell and another one by Akwa Ibom State Government.
Akwa Ibom State if they follow the trend would be selling thousands MWs of power and earning millions of dollars in the next few years.
– Lagos state is buying farmland from five other states in Nigeria for commercial farming.
– as at ten years ago, five ND states were going to develop a railway line criss crossing the Niger Delta. No FG stopped them.
– all states have been taking hundreds of dollars in foreign loans to finance their developmental projects . Very few have been denied internationally because they are seen from the commercial law perspective as independent federating units.
– if the FG says they want to decentralise the NPF today and transfer them to the states in the spirit of true federalism, they will say NO. Not even if the revenue allocation formula is altered 30% FG and 70% States. Why because they no the oil money has dried up. Bring up the idea when the price return to $114 per barrel and they will say yes.
– Finally and most controversially, the funds that put an opposition party in power at the center now came from state governments. No less. They matched federal might Naira for Naira and won. Abeg give us a break. Federalism is as they choose.
This attitude of the educated urban dwelling Nigerian hiding under new contemporarily developed verbiage to hide his inaction, cowardliness or just plain bashing of the system instead of holding specific individuals responsible is what we must do without.
My state government in Osun state is a case in point,. Not paying workers for months, not growing I IGR in a state that has a world class machine tools factory, world class universities, steel rolling mills, farms, National grid control center, railway terminus and many hotels and he blames it on PDP I will call him out. He also ran a helicopter once as did many of this governors who will join you to complain about lack of true federalism.
I have also started campaigning against him personally .
We are being had in this country.
A politician is an animal who hides under a ‘social emotion’ , becomes a poster boy for it manipulates it for his own personal agrandisement and comes to power. It is not in 5hen words or the structure. It is the people operating it.
*several hundred millions of dollars*
Mr. James, thank you! I agree with your point 100%
i went thought the 130 + comments
and what i was surprised was that nobody questioned the intelligence agencies.
the intelligence agencies were the most appropriate organization who could have delt with the shia related matter.
this would not resulted in visual display of force
this would not have made into the media limelight
this would had kept the military out of the equation
this would had enabled covert suppression and detection of the trouble makers both foreign and domectic much easier.
in the last month the shias in india have created a somewhat similiar trouble 10000 of them came out on the streets but the police warned them to be peaceful.
the role of the police ended when the protests ended.
next what will/has happened is that the intelligences units both local and national have priotized the surviellance of the main elements of the protesters.
now they will simply work to find any negative/weak points to control/eliminate/discredit them.
everybody has a weak point dont they ? 😀
i will tell u a story a religious mullah of a powerful jammat had started taking a communal stand.
initial intel inputs suggested towards formation of a militant group.
we wanted to nip it in the start so we put everybody under surviellance,
2 months of survl. yielded significant data to take action against secondary actors (we were not interested in these) but there was no actionable data on the primary target.
however we found out that one of his wives was having a affair with a very young relative 😀
we corraled her 😀 and she agreed to help with the condition that no physical harm came to her husband.
so with her help her husband (without him being aware) was accessed and lets say certain behavioural experminents 😀 was conducted on him in successive stages which helped him to become a responsible citizen of the nation 😀
the wifes role was very important otherwise we had no credible way of re-enforcing the treatment and knowing his behavioual response pattern.
overall the effort was 60% successful because some of followers had become way too radicalized and they dispersed. we had red flagged the use of VOIP for communications, but these was no action taken and end result the pakistani terorists had a merry day in mumbai.
regarding the story do u guys think i could compete with tom clancy 😀
matter of fact tom clancy has access to intelligence agengies/operatives for research material.
fun fact : STASI the dreaded intel agency had perfected a method where they could make a person go nuts without coming in direct contact with him or anybody related to him or without use of any drugs or any thing at all.
all they needed was access to his home.
real genius those guys and to think that it is so awkwardly simple. 😀
The leader of Shiite movement is obviously under security watch as an ongoing security project I imagine 24/7 for many years. He knows it, the FG knows that he knows it.
However this meta security surveillance angle you are suggesting is worthy of exploitation. A little like meta data principle
People are defined not just by their names and personal characteristics but by their relationships. Indeed in many parts of Nigeria and the Arab world you don’t call someone by name. You call him by his relationships.
No intelligence organization bugs just an individual phone and say they are mounting effective surveillance, They are also watching his relatives, friends, bank accounts etc.
A few of those relationships are key and there are psychological and mathematical ways of even determining those significances. Now if the key individuals are identified and their meta informaction shows weaknesses then any organisation can be penetrated. If we had penetrated this movement effectively we would have known about the March and would have warned them and saved lives.
A lot of pro-activity is required in these times.
Some relief from Nigerian issues…
It would seem that the Russians are now targeting US planes in Syria and the US has stopped missions as a result. That theatre is just waiting for the smallest spark in the wrong place.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/russia-airdefence-targeting-us-planes-over-syria-grounding-planes-20151217-glqg62.html
The strength of any system is tied to the pple manning it. Our system is nt perfect but cld still produce far better results if those manning it had a sense of responsibility and sincerity of purpose. On paper it’s actually pretty god. Many of our policies are fair and balanced on Paper and would win awards “on paper”. Implementation is Key. Our tribal and religious affiliations make our federalism a bit more complicated that most. And we messesd it up when we abandoned our regional system.
That said our federalism needs some tweaking. The FG issues, Vehicle and Driver’s licenses, pockets the bulk or our mineral wealth, is in charge of almost every regulatory body, takes control of the waterways, inland and maritime. Sometimes u see a Borehole project dts Federally funded. Imagine dt a bloody borehole!!!! The FG takes too much, controls too much and the country has grown to the point that what the the FG can’t chew what it has bitten. Before GEJ left his govt purchased 800 vehicles for the Police force. Seems like a lot but it amounts to abt 1 vehicle per LG.
It is true that the people in Nigeria are Federalized, but is power federalized? The power is seemingly at the centre, that is why we have agitations and security problems. People do not believe they have control of their destiny and so look to the centre that controls all the nations natural resources.If the people do not believe or have a reason to believe they control their destiny and are seemingly becoming more impoverished then violent revolt is inevitable.
The reason governors don’t perform is because of the patronage system which is created by our constitution which put a knife through the Federal system by giving the F.G. rights to oil and mineral licenses on lands that do not belong to the F.G. Governors KNOW that they do not need to perform due to ‘Federal allocation’ a word coined for the exclusive use of Nigeria and an insult to Federalism. That (Federal allocation) suggests a top down approach rather than a bottoms up system true to Federalism.
Many Federated states were created due to the oil patronage system not because they are capable of standing alone.Now oil is sub $40pb and it cost Nigeria $30pb to drill, so we are making less than $10 to the barrel.Those states are collapsing now because they were not defined by the people but by the patronage system.Let’s get rid of allocations and very bright governors will appears as ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.
We need to give the people back the power and their commonwealth to ensure peace and progress.People must believe they control their fate.
A federated entity consists of a people capable of standing alone,given the power to engage in independent industrious enterprise and social development and paying back through taxes.
Who controls the licenses for the generation and distribution of electricity vital for employment and development? Can states sanction power companies if they do not act in the states interest? How can a state and its’ people progress if it does not control its destiny? Who controls major road arteries and waterways vital to development?
There are too many things necessary for development in the hands of a disinterested Central Government.Nigeria is just too big to be run from the centre,remember that the current area of operation is larger than England.
The F.G. based on our land size and population should only be interested in taxes,defence,Internal security,integration and foreign policy,not quibbling over mineral rights.
Corruption in Nigeria was created because the nation was not defined by her incredibly diverse peoples.
I figure the series of Cyber attacks currently done on government websites have the hand of external proxies. How robust are we if any and do we even have a team of gurus trained especially for cyber warfare?
The Iranians are ahead of us on this… Its no shame to be hacked by Iranian hackers, its just a call to arms that we should get our cyber warfare capabilities up. The big threat to Nigeria is still Salafism, Shia Islam typically participates in the democratic process , they are treated like outcasts by their Sunni cousins so they will eventually agitate for a seat at the table.
Indeed. I consider them to be mid to top tier in terms of Cyber warfare, but I’m just disappointed at the lack of foresight by our own old school leaders in regards to this threat. In this type of scenario, there’ll be counter measures and then a sound warning to the perpetrators or take down of their IT network.
This is an in-house problem and whilst we resolve this amicably, stern warnings should be sounded out to proxies looking to ferment trouble or instigate insurrections.
The Shias should also be made to understand their loyalty to the nation should outweigh other far flung persons or states.
This is fantastic! I have been saying it for long that Nigerian needs to establish a coast guard as a littoral navy to mainly curb piracy and deal with issues in and around Nigeria’s continental shelf and littoral waters. The way forward is to split the current Nigerian Navy equipment into two. most of the FACs, Seaward defence boats, one of the OPVs should go to coast guard. Nigerian navy should train men of the Nigerian merchant navy, do some more recruitments and draft some naval ratings and middle level officers into the coast guard while a major, new acquisition of vessels and recruitment is done to reposition the Nigerian Navy as a blue water Navy.
Oga Ola, in 2002, they had the courtesy to place “bear with us” signs! These days, they’ve lost all such courtesy!
My friends, if u will listen to what I’m saying just a little, u’ll here that I do not absolve the states of culpability, my argument is that, our federalism is more in name that in deed!
Oga Are, u mentioned the power project in my state! It produces 155+mw or so but we have on average about 3/4 hrs of power on average in the city because of this so called federalism! For one, the power plant had been completed years ago (…in fact by 2007) but the gas infrastructure is a federal prerogative! Same goes to the transmission and distributory network (the so called exclusive and concurrent list in the constitution). So, how many states will want to invest such sum only to relinquish control to someone else to control?
As for the railway project, what came out of it?
Oga Ola mentioned how the state could develop their mineral resources and contribute a part to the federation while keeping the “bulk”! Hmm, NO COMMENT!
Oga Are James, if the FG decides if a state can borrow or not. U know that na! Then again, I thought one of the cardinal values of the reigning party is state police! What stops them from implementing this one? Or was all these about the control of oil like u said?
Oga Are, the apostle of anti corruption, did u here ur conclusion?
Oga lachit, u got me cracking up! However, I made reference to this from the onset when I was asking questions the govt needed to answer though I didn’t get to the depth like u did!
As for u Clancy wanna be, keep right @ it and u may get to beat him Lol!
lolzzz
but on a serious note behavior modification via hypnosis coupled with chemical brainwashing r used by mossad cia fsb raw infact i know for certain that indian agents for very sensitive missions undergoes prophylactic hypnosis to defeat interrogation at the hands of the enemy.
another thing i know is the utilization of psychics. it is often dismissed as nonsense but very few individuals r gifted enough to make it work if coupled with highly efficient threat matix stimulation models.
what is more interesting and frightening is the use of electromagnetic emissions the russians r far ahead in this field.
Oga Adetayo’ and Oga Drag_on, on point all the way
Please let us not overflog the issue.
There is some federalism in Nigeria.
States make their own laws (actually they have refused to,, but they can). States can grab anything they want and let the Supreme Court decide. Lagos State is the only state that has proven itself governed by truly enlightened people when Tinubu was in power. It was almost every week in court against the Obj regime.
There is no perfect country. No perfect constitution but we have to accept the argument that it is individuals who champion change, innovation and any progress of any kind. I say it in places we I have worked, God works through individuals. Creative spark will come on the individual level maybe one or two at the same time but individuals all the same.
You cannot be throwing nebulous and indefinable problems around. It has to be concretised and done by someone and we have the people only they are ‘dead’ because of money
When you continue to throw up a systemic issues as the basis of problems you make them insoluble. When you make it someone’s job you have accountability.
The educated urban middle class is showing the same irresponsibility of these people we are talking about.
A SENATOR of the federal republic goes on a TV programme and says Nigeria’s federal system is defective. The proper response should be “.,YES, go ahead Mr Senator, but You have a salary higher than POTUS’s salary and three jeeps. What are you doing about constitutional amendments, what about all the national conference reports..all one thousand national conferences we spent billions doing in the pas…lol…what about taking bills for their implementation. .what about taking the fight to the supreme Court?..”
Please fellow bloggers,especially Zacchary999, a strange fighter jet flew around TAC, doing some aerobatic display yesterday and very early today morning,grey colour like the upgraded Alpha Jets,but I could not identify the jet,because it was too far from me.
However, I do not want to be too optimistic!
try to spot if there r weapons, drop tanks attached to it, if yes then there is a higher probability of it making into the military assets.
Now this is the Oga Are James I use to gbadu for b4 election season came (na joke o)! But, for once in a long time, ur words are on point, coming from the heart I suppose! Oga Are James, I hail thee
New commanders for Lafiya Dole
http://www.tv360nigeria.com/32669-2/
Let me preach a little again,the present civilian government should not wait until the stolen US $6 Billion dollars is all recover before they start their ground breaking recapitalization of the armed forces of Nigeria with 21st Century combat equipments.
Permit me to list some weapons that could buster our armed forces combat capabilities,if they are acquired by the FGN, these should be :
* A mix of 36 units of SU-30/35(MKI/SM) Flanker variants;
* 48 units of JF-17 Thunder Block II & III variants;
* 24 units of either Yak-130 or L-15 Advanced jet trainers to replace all Alpha jets;
*
* 30 units of T-129 ATAK helicopters;
* 24 units of Mi-171B helicopters;
* 6 units of Mi-26T Heavy-lift helicopters;
* 18 units of Embraeu medium-lift transport planes;
* 6 units of AN-124 Condor Heavy-lifters;
* 12 Batteries each of HQ-9/FD-2000 and HQ-16/LY-80 SAM IADS;
* 2 Squadrons of Wing Loong UAV/UCAVs;
* 300 Type 99KM MBTs with ToT;
* 100 PLZ-05/54 calibre 155mm self-propelled howitzers;
*WS-2B 302mm MRLS;
* 1000 HY-6 MANPADS missile launchers withToT;
* 1000 units of Type 730B Guns AAAs with ToT;
* 500 units of Type 07 IFV/APCs with ToT;
* 500 units of WZ551 units of APCs with ToT;
*150 pieces of 120mm mortar with a range of 7250 metres;
*150 pieces of 160mm mortar with a range of 9600 metres;
* 6 Units of Type 053H3 Frigates with ToT;
* 6 Units of NNS Aradu clone( to be built in-country);
* 12 units of Type 022 Houbei FACs with ToT;
* 4 units of late model of Song Class Submarines;
* 6 units of Type 071 LPDs
* 3 units of KJ-2000 AWACS;
* 5 Units of KJ-500 AWACS;
*4 units of ZDK-03 AWACS;
*5 units of IL-78 Aerial Tankers;
* 6 units of ECM/ESWs;
*12 units of naval attack helicopters;
* 12 units of armed maritime patrol aircrafts.
These weapons can be acquired within 5-10 years,if proper planning is done by the MoD, Abuja in conjunction with DHQs,HQs NA,HQs NN,and HQs NAF.
@ Gbash10, I do respect your desire for NAF re-equipping process but my humble opinions are:
1. NAF does not need 12 AWACs and 5 Tankers even if all the aircraft in your first post are obtained. If all the geopolitical zones in Nigeria should hold one major airbase today, Nigeria would still only needs about 6 AWACS. Many bigger and better equipped military own 2 and I think Nigeria should rather buy 2 good AWACS than 12 with questionable capabilities.
2. Loading Nigerian armed forces with all these chinese land air air equipment is a recipe for disaster. Sure, we can buy some Chinese equipment, especially in the absence of other options from the West and where it is obvious that there is absolute value for money.
The following countries make better land and air systems that Nigeria can buy from without ANY hindrance if Nigeria wants; Russia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, France.
China is aggressively developing and coming up with a lot of things, but let us not forget that these techs are still not mature in China. Yes, they mass produce all these these equipment and they churn out different models/series of the same equipment in a short time but Interestingly, China fields significant number of land systems from the US and Russia. Most of the equipment form China today are targeted at developing, export market, the most important breakthroughs are still not being sold out.
You may want to know that Iran still made a purchase of almost £2 billion from BAE systems in 2014 and and a yet undisclosed sum has been spent this year again buying electronic systems and the likes even though Iran is facing different sanctions. At the end, I believe Nigeria can buy from any country they want to buy from if they make their orders right and willing to spend the right amount in a transparent process.
In the previous government, the MoD, Abuja failed woefully,however, with the new Minister of Defence and his new Service Chiefs,we hope to see a new Armed Forces of Nigeria, not just in their new uniforms, but the way they conduct themselves,the way they perceive threat, analyse it,and then counter or neutralize it, by fighting with that in-born Nigerian spirit pioneered by our soldiers in Burma,during the Second World War; now that we are in the information age,we expect nothing less than a 21st Century military.
This means our military and security forces need a new National Security/Defence Policy.
Because our security forces are fighting insurgency in the NE without a clear doctrinal document, we keep on get false victories after victories while the war prolongs.
According to Sun Tzu, as he stated in the ” Art of War ”, the Army values Victories; it does not value prolong warfare.Hence, the MoD, Abuja must ensure that weapons are acquired expeditiously in the stipulated timelines thereby enhancing operational preparedness.
more so, the military must prioritize its requirements and applyoo the fast track procedure for critical weapons.
The need to acquire state-of-the-art weapons is to ensure decisive results in the battle fields, a good example is the use of the T-72 main battle tank to liberate Mubi and other towns and territories hitherto held by Boko Haram insurgents,hence, the FG must rise to the occassion and reequip the armed forces with speed and dexterity.
@gbash10 It is the L-39. Bad weather in Kano means all training sorties relocated to makurdi. Safety first as the aircraft does not have advanced radar and relies on ATC which can really be a problem.
I believe short term focus for NAF is really to get already ordered munition delivered for use on both the Alpha Jet and F7, get the Mi 35 in Good flyable condition ( most of the last deliveries have huge climate issues)/ get balance airframes delivered and settle the MB 339 upgrade issue.
The poor mans 4th generation fighter which you really dream you saw yesterday is seriously on the cards and because the Pakistanis have shown dedication and faith with what they have done with the F7 should almost be a certainty in the mid term funds permitting. A move to the CH4 is almost a done deal.
2014/2015 was really a lost opportunity for the NAF. The diverted funding would have addressed both the short and mid term strategic requirements.
It is also hearty to note that the Nigerian Army now has an Army corps Aviation commander and Maj Gen Irabor who is now Deputy Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole would be the Nigerian Army Aviation Cooridnator on ground. The NA pilots should reach operational readiness by Easter next year and that should add some bite to the army’s capability especially for night operations.
Maj Gen Adeosun is now the MNJTF commander !
Well we’ll manage JF 17 Block II, thank you.
Hope ‘medium term’ means less than a year
OGA ZACHARY
Any clues hints as to who will be the GOC 7 DIV now that Maj. Gen L. Adeosun is now the new MNJTF commander.
Brig Gen Ezukwu is Ag GOC and Maj Gen Ejemai is GOC 8 Div TF
Thank you very much for that clarification @ Zachary999.
@Ola, there are a lot of sophisticated weapons produced in the West, Russia and Israel as well. Most of these countries will not sell their weapons with tech transfer,but the Chinese will if we are determine to spend money.
My list is not exhausted Sir.
Russia will, depending on what you want to buy. As a matter of fact, China got their techs (bought or otherwise) from Russia mostly and the US…largely not original. Secondly, there is no level of tech that China can sell now that Russia cannot willingly sell better. Pakistan has come a long way, but the Pakistani growth (China dependent) cannot be compared to Indian and Chinese growth that came from Russia. I think we should, if possible avoid 3rd hand transfer of Techs. I admire China though and we can collaborate with them on several fronts, especially naval development. If we can collaborate with China in large vessels construction such that it’s half built in China (Super structure), and Nigeria (fittings), Nigeria will learn a lot from them.
So here comes Game Changer No.1.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35136831
https://www.rt.com/news/326497-gaddafi-cousin-isis-sarin/
So, ISIS has Sarin gas form Libya. Are we sure Boko Haram does not have the same yet? I hope someone is watching closely?! Let’s remember that significant equipment in boko haram’s arsenal came from Libya. In 2012, the west already knew that BH got several small calibre, modern riffles such as the AK-103 several very deadly, light weapons from Libya and till today, I am not sure anyone clearly informed Nigeria. As at late 2011, the west already knew Boko haram would give Nigeria a tough fight after acquiring a large cache of arms from Libya but Nigeria was never given the true picture of things, analysts waited to see their predictions come to pass…now we’re talking chemical weapons here. We’re not sure BH does not have same. I do hope the current trend will ginger the armed forces and police to significantly and very proactively increase their level of surveillance before BH wrecks havoc with chemical attacks in populated, possibly urban areas in Nigeria.
Beware, very long post!
If I had the power to influence acquisition and develop Nigerian armed forces my approach would be this;
1. Work with the press to make every Nigerian aware of the fact that this country technically is in a state of war, but we would do everything to keep everyone safe.
2.As part of a measure to achieve good security, I would introduce 1% security tax for all businesses in the country (someone else also mentioned this on this blog before)
3. I would make funding for police independent of the current situation in which the armed forces and police all draw from the same defence purse. Increase the total police strength by 30% and increase MOPOL (anti terror police by 50%)
4. Create a dedicated emergency military acquisition funding program. This is separate from salaries and training/exercise costs which the defence ministry pays for anyway.
5. Focus on an aggressive, 5 year military re-equipping plan that has a life span of 20-40 years and takes 5-10 years to mature.
For NAF and air defence: $9.5 bn to be spent until 2015-2020
2015-2016. Each geopolitical zone must have a capable airforce base.
2015-2016: 30 units of Mi-24 Super Hind Mk.V. $650 million. Including training and local facility for maintenance and support.
2015-2016: 60 Pilatus basic trainer for our flying schools. $240 million. To be locally assembled and built under licence or Grob G 115 also built under license. These would forever replace air beetles.
2015: 24 Super Tucano. $ 240 million. Additional 60 million is used for armaments and repair and maintenance facility in Nigeria. Nigeria should look at buying these aircrafts as KD and they are to be assembled locally. These would be medium trainers and light attack aircrafts. We should look forward to obtaining the licence to locally build these later or our school of military aviation in the country.
2015: 18 Yak-130 trainer and light attack aircraft. 270 million. Plus another 30 million for armaments and maintenance related facility in the country. 12 of these would be stationed in the training school in Kaduna. A second training school would be located in the South West with 6 units.
2015-2017: Each airbase must have a radar station and SAM batteries. S-400 for Abuja, S-300PS for Lagos, Portharcourt and Kaduna at a cost of $2.5 bn. Buk-M3 for other geopolitical zones at a cost of $1.5 bn. These costs should include extensive training on operation and maintenance as well as dud missiles for military exercises and test firing of systems. 20 units of Pantsir-S1 and hundreds of missiles for $ 0.3 bn
2015-2017: 24 Su-25 dedicated ground attack aircraft with improved avionics $ 312 million a piece. 38 million on armaments and local capacity building for maintenance and support.
2015-2020: $250 million. Construction of advanced training facility for pilots and mechanics in Nigeria. This would be in the South West. Aggressive and long term training partnership with Russia to breed crack pilots for all the platforms acquired.
2015-2020: Aggressive acquisition of technology and promotion of R&D for drone and missile technology for $200 million.
2015-2020: Acquisition of 2 Il-78MKI and 2 AWACS. 1 SAAB Erieye and one Embraer R-99 platforms for $320 million.
2016-2017: 36 Su-30SM variant and 4 trainer version. They would be named Su-30SMN where N stands for Nigeria. $ 1.8 bn. With the additional $200million going into local facility for maintenance and armaments. These would be located in the North Central, South East and South West regions of the country.
2017-2019: 14 Mig-31. 2 trainers and 12 combat aircraft. $840 million. Latest variants. Another 120 million for weapons and maintenance facility in the country. This would be at a secret location may be around the Nerve center in Abuja.
2016-2020: Operational deployment of Gulmar as a target. Acquisition of 2 units of CH-4A and 4 units of CH-4B.
For Army: $8.072 bn
2015-2020: $600 million DICON and NAEME for research and production
2016-202: For $600 million, DICON to supply 300, 000 units of AK-103 or Beryl to the NA, and 300,000 units of PP-2000 to the police and air force.
2015-2020: $500 million for troop training and expansion of military number and modernisation of training facilities in the country.
2015-2020: Armoured Tanks: $2.32 bn
1. $ 320 million 40 units of Leopard 2A6/A6M. Including facility for local capacity extensive repair and maintenance.
2. 300 units of T-90MS. $2bn to be supplied as 200 complete and 100 units KD to be assembled locally. The deal includes construction of assemblage, repair maintenance facilities for the tank.
AFV:
2015-2018: IFV: $2.08bn
1. Tracked
$550 million for 100 units of The Puma (tracked)
250 units of BMP-3 to cost $1 bn in the configuration:
• 120 units of BMP-3M – KBP (non tracked)
• 70 units of BMP-3F
• 60 units of 9P163M-1 antitank variant of BMP-3
2. Non-tracked
a. $ 350 million for 100 units of BTR-90
b. $180 million 60 units of BTR-3
APC: $770 million total
• 50 units of The boxer (wheeled) at $170 million
• 2000 units of igirigi. At $600 million
Artillery: $682 million in total
100 units of Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled 155mm howitzer. $ 500 million
2016: 30 units of 9A52-2 Smerch-M heavy multiple rocket launcher. $182 million
ADS: $1.12 bn
2017: MANPADS: $320 million for 400 units of 9K333 Verba
2016: $800 million for 50 units of Pantsir-S1E mounted on MAN SX 45 8×8 trucks from Germany including costs for R&D, training of local capacity for maintenance and support.
For Navy: $7.55bn
2020: 2 Submarines type 212 of the German Navy $1.2 bn
2020: 2 Lada-class submarines of the Russian Navy $1.2 bn
2016: 2 Brandenburg-class frigates $1 bn
2016: 2 Sachsen-class frigate $1 bn
2016: 20 FACs and missile boats $0.4 bn
2016-2020: 5 OPVs all locally built $1.5 bn
2018-2020: 2 Amphibious assault ships $1.2 bn
2018-2020: 2 Ka-31 AWACs or 2 AgustaWestland AW101 AEW $ 46million
2017-2020: 12 units of AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat $170 million
2015-2025 Securing and fencing of Nigerian border project. Joint project between states and the FG. Creates 30,000 temporary jobs. 10,000 permanent jobs (mainly security personnel). Project employes a complex of physical barriers (such as barbed and electrified fences, ditches), manned and unmanned surveillance platforms.
VERY , VERY INTERESTING.
OGA OLA , i am not an accountant but gut instinct tells me that the 1% tax on all biz in NAIJA may not be enough,also I would like with apologies to OGA HENRY to see a realistic 50% split whereby if for instance One submarine is built in Germany the other should be built or at least CKD / KD and assembled in Nigeria, the deep waters of Awka ibom come to mind..
Also Proforce must be encouraged to build a Main BattleTank (MBT) from Scratch, It is heavy o , it is light o it is a gaz guzzler ni o I don’t care we have to start somewhere.
i will take a look at your list again but the devil is in the huge sums of money to be disbursed it can only be justified to someone like PMB, VPO ,& FM Adeoshun if there are job creation schemes for Nigerians.
The only issue is the operational costs of these systems when they have been acquired. They will load annual defence budgets with at least $1bn every year if we acquire them so some ranking has to be done using criteria of (i) the importance of the gap we want to close (ii) total costs of ownership and (iii) ease of operation or what is called operability. Using these criteria, only
12 JF 17, 12 SU-25, 24 MI-35s, 24 Chinese CH-4 UAVs, 100 T- 90s tanks, 200 BMPs, 2 Frigates and 1 Sub. should be bought in the next five years. If we are concerned about a few other important threats then long range surface-surface missiles are available to bridge the gap.
They can take out armoured columns rolling in from any of our neighbouring countries or destroy millitant camps anywhere in country. We are also more technologically mature in this area than others, so local production of missiles capable of delivering 1000kg of punch at distances up to 500km should be encouraged as a matter of urgency.
Hello Kins (Jimmy and Are James) I do agree with your points and I did put them into consideration.
1. 1% Tax is quite small, but the idea is not to fund everything from tax. The idea is to make the society directly participate in funding military procurement. This is a budget of $25bn spread over a period 5 years, so $5bn per annum.
2. This will create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, actually. If the Government was to do this, they would need to train new man power and retrain old hands to accommodate and support these systems. Companies like proforce would definitely send their staff members for training in maintaining equipment like these so that they can be art of the companies providing maintenance service to the armed forces especially on the land systems.
3. Nigeria need to do an incremental albeit rapid learning. Nigeria cannot immediately start requiring to build submarines at home without first getting the nitty gritty of operating one. If you noticed, I talked about assembly plant for T-90 MS, I also talked about a contract of at least 600,000 small arms to DICON. In addition, I talked about establishing maintenance facilities for the various systems in Nigeria. This is about Tech acquisition to position Nigeria for the next decade. I think Nigerian would need some time to effectively run and support these systems before building something potent at home. believe me, if Nigeria effectively acquires the ability to provide 100% domestic support for these platforms, in the next decade, Nigeria will be able to build MBTs, fighter jets and helicopters at home with at least 50% of the components being manufactured locally in Nigeria.
4. Yes, the cost of supporting these equipment would be significant but no matter what Nigeria buys, there would be maintenance costs attached. And the more the number, the more the cost. Two ways to reduce the cost is to (i) train man power to provide 100% domesticated support (ii) buy new equipment. Used equipment come cheaper, but then they also come with a reduced life span and often require more frequent servicing than new equipment.
Nigeria needs to decide what to do, whether to once and for all upgrade the military, modernize, secure it’s borders and provide the needed leadership expected of her on the continent or forever remain weakened and highly vulnerable to all sorts of perturbation, small and big, internal and external. Remember, you only can grow your economy when you have peace and security. These acquisitions are just a percentage of what it takes to make a military become a deterrent force. My opinion is that if India and Pakistan achieved it, why not Nigeria? Economically, Nigeria is better off than the two countries (GDP per capita and population of poor people). I will soon propose some economic road map on how Nigeria can at least triple her GDP in the coming days.
…‘How we lived with Boko Haram as neighbours’
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/-how-we-lived-with-boko-haram-as-neighbours/125097.html#eMPPAauWk8y3W7Yy.99
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/nigerian-troops-boko-haram-clash-in-buratai-army-chiefs-village/
Boko Haram gunmen launched a dawn raid Saturday on the hometown of Nigerian army chief, triggering a fierce gunbattle with troops, residents of a nearby village to which people fled the clashes said.
There was no immediate report of casualties in the fighting in Buratai in Borno state, the home village of Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Nigeria’s top army officer.
Abubakar Umar, a resident of the nearby hamlet of Miringa, told AFP that the fighting began at 5:00 am after Boko Haram insurgents attacked the village.
“At one point we could hear explosions coming from the direction of Buratai,” he said.
Troops reinforcements from a military base in the town of Biu, 30 kilometres from Buratai, were seen passing through Miringa.
“Nine trucks conveying soldiers and another four carrying local hunters drove through our village towards Buratai and from what we hear more are on their way,” said Shitu Ayuba, another resident.
Some Buratai residents had fled to Miringa, where they took shelter in a primary school, locals said.
Buratai and nearby villages have been repeatedly targeted in deadly raids by the Islamist insurgents since June, when the army chief assumed office.
Residents believe the attacks are in response to recent military gains against the jihadists under the army chief.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given the military a December 31 deadline to crush the jihadist uprising that has killed
Air Support!! Air Support!! Air Support!! Air Support!!!! Jeez 6 yrs into the insurgency and with many attack Helics and weaponised Helics…………….
We have too few aircraft (fixed or rotary wing). As i suspected earlier (hope am wrong), seems most of them have exhausted their available flying hours before Programmed Depot maintenance flying them now may entail entering the red zone where accidents are more likely. This is a key part of what caused the major collapse during the last administration and BH took advantage of it.
Their increasing courage now suggests they sense it is happening again.
Our boys must ‘grit their teeth’ and fight back, no more easy victories. They must now rely on intel and use pre-emptive attacks, as well as use artillery to try an fill in the gap from the currently waning air support.
Since money is in short supply now, FG must prioritize lower cost higher impact infantry and other army support equipment.
We must guard against retreats that gift BH valuable heavy equipment. This matter will quickly turn ugly if BH begin to again lay their hands on heavy artillery and God Forbid, T72 tanks.
http://news.yahoo.com/fears-islamist-threat-emerge-nigeria-064120097.html
Army-Shi’ite Clash is Fight against Terrorism – Saudi King tells Buhari
http://www.theheraldng.com/army-shiite-clash-is-fight-against-terrorism-saudi-king-tells-buhari-2/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
These countries should not bring their bs to Nigeria, the Saudis and Iran that is. Nigeria shouldn’t become some play ground for these two countries to stroke their egos
hahahahaha. Sir Kay, we are already involved by default and by virtue of the size of our population, economy and religious beliefs; this grand battle for the soul of Muslims in Nigeria between Saudi Arabia and Iran was only a matter of time. 😉
These Theocratic regimes seek some level of external approval in order to convince themselves of their relevance in the wider global population; religion is that tool with which they seek to acquire soft power, something Nigeria’s Nollywood, love it or hate it has been able to achieve with ease. They seek greater reach and influence, show of force, protests and/or bombings will definitely not help achieve this cause, rather, a morally superior and most importantly economical gratifying path is the only way to win the hearts and minds of individuals in this day and age.
NAIJA I HAIL THEE.
Sir Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
My Ogas, greetings. Oga Ola, I like where it head is going. We’ve suggested this before but our Ogas were only interest in themselves. However, I would rather have a different list. When I can, I will draw up mine
We are waiting but whatever you do, don’t include an atomic bomb like I think some people like @Augustine once did…
I might be wrong on this o ☺☺☺
It head
Sorry oh, na auto correct. Ur head
hehehe i will intecede before Ifiok umoeka 😀
NAF:
1. 1st stage trainers: 20-30 60 Pilatus trainer configured for light attack roles
2. intermediate trainers and LIFT capable trainers : 20-30 YAK130 trainers configured for light attack and lead in fighter trainer to impart training for dual crewed fighter aircrafts.
3.medium multi role arcraft : gripen was my 1st choice but US engine might play spoilsport so next choice will be J-10C around 30-50. at 27.84 million dollars it is cheap enough to be used in day to day usage.
4.heavy air supeority fighter: 20-35 SU-35
air-defence :
BARAK 8 : 30-50 units
SHORADS : 600 9K333 Verba launcher units with 2000-3000 missiles
CIWS: 40-60 units of Pantsir-S1
NA:
tanks : 400-600 T90MS tanks together with tank stimulators
artillery:
155mm 52 calibre towed/APU based 250-350 nos
155mm 52 calibre motorized 100-150 nos
miscellaneous:
rapid fire 120mm mortar based on armoured mobile platform :100-150
300mm MBRL either chinese or russian : <100
122/214mm MBRL chinese or russian or indian : 100-150
IFV: chinese or russian versions 400-600 nos (western versions can be bought if funds r available)
air defence:
upgraded zu 2 dual AAA guns with sensors and automated fire control (inhouse)
100-200 units of Pantsir-S1 based on trucks and tracked vehicled
mobile version of BARAK 8 on truck/tracked carriers : 100-150 units
NN:
well navy can go on a shooping spree after the BH is wiped out.
i have tried to maintain cross-services standardization for weapon systems for easier maintenance , cost reduction , better inhouse resource utilization etc etc.
i have tried to involve mostly russia china because they r less costly and will/might offer TOT for their products or atleast licenced production and this will simplify maintence deals / TOT deals / facilitate overall crost reduction . also strategic interests will be (mutual) better served to access broader civilian/business/defence deals for overall national benifit.
some might favour JF 17 before J10C but info shows that in all parameters including costs (90%) J10C outperforms JF17 and because china will always support the J10s development / upgradation, which might / will not the seen (to the same extent as J10 in cutting edge tech.) for the JF17 which was itself efused for induction by the PLAAF themselves.
but ultimately the decision is at the hands of nigeria and finally this is only a suggestion from me,
so if u dont agree no problemo 😀
@ Are James intead of nuclear bombs 😀 i would suggest developing civilian space launcher capability which will indirectly lead to military spin offs 😀
artillery:
155mm 52 calibre towed/APU based 250-350 nos
155mm 52 calibre motorized 100-150 nos
*add*
155mm 52 calibre self propelled tracked 100-150 south korean K9 thunder is a good choice
also i did not include mid air refullers, awacs , S300/400 , LRSAM etc because my list posted above will make mince meat of all the neighbouring countries but if u want to tango with algeria egypt ……france etc then u can go for it.
fact is weapon acqusitions are always based on current (priority ) and future threat (secondary priority) assesment.
and these assesments keep changing due to evolving geo strategic environment in the neighbourhood and around the world.
so anticipating future threats accurately and arming suitable withen the mandated budget is required ( which is easier said than done )
also india has approved purchase of 5 battalions of the S400 worth around 600 million dollars.
lolzzz all the dumb ass indian media were confused and were reporting 5 S400 systems as being ordered real ass ho;es 😀
and were talking about shooting down fighters with it.
they r clueless to the fact that S400 is best suited for taking down bombers, awacs , refuellers, and importantly intercepting TBMs + IRBMs + cruise missiles.
modern agile fighters will simply out manuver the incomming long range missiles most of the time.
INTERESTING FACT:
In early November 2014, when a contract was signed for the procurement by the PLAAF of six Battalions (or 72 TELs) of the S-400 Triumph, this contract was valued at US$3 billion. 500$ million per Battalion. So, in India’s case, if the contract value is Rs.30,000 crores (4.83$ billion), that means the order will be for five Battalions, or US$960 million per Battalion, with each battalion having 3 Batteries, with four TELs per Battery. So, 1 Battalion will have 12 TELs, making it a total of 60 TELs for the 5 Battalions.
So why the extra US$460 million per Battalion in India’s case? 😀 😀
1.is it because of the next-generation (in development) SAMs being offered by Russia, i.e. the HYPERSONIC endo-atmospheric missiles, the 77N6-N and the 77N6-NI, both of which will incorporate ‘HIT TO KILL’ warheads & Ka band millimeter-wave active phased-array radar seekers.
2.or are they looking to develop together with indian DRDO the systems integration packages involving the S-400 Battalions & IAI/ELTA’s EL/M-2090U UHF-band active phased-array LRTR, & later on helping the DRDO expand the surveillance envelope by incorporating the space-based element, i.e. the DRDOs projected 4-satellite based missile launch warning system or tying up / integrating with DRDO in-development ANTI BALLISTIC MISSILE systems ( PAD, AAD, AD-1 and AD-2 , PDV ) .
also dont complain because i am posting india related news here 😀
i did so
1.to highlight how nigeria might proceed in a similiar fashion to acquire the latest techs well beyond the EXPORT versions, and also to keep the enemy in dark/confused as to the extend of the capability of the acquired system.
2. means to buy sensitive tech. covertly because financial deals can be tracked but if included in inflated weapons deal it will keep the watch dogs guessing.
3.lastly i did so to expose stupidity of india media so that u all dont read them 😀
While we are producing procurement lists, lets not forget Nigeria’s Defence Industries Corporation (DICON); which since 1964, is still producing only bullets, DICON salt and furniture.
Salt and furniture?
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/inadequate-funding-corruption-holding-defence-industry-down/
Lets get our defence industries functioning properly. By now we should be producing various types of rocketry, inertial guidance systems, high tech electronics, jet engines, various vehicles (air, space, terrestrial and marine), robots, electronic warfare algorithms etc.
inertial guidance systems, jet engines requires 10+ years gestatation time for a production varient to come on line if developed from scratch indigeneously .
this info is from my informed sources.
We have to start somewhere. If we had started in 2005, we would be quite some way ahead by now.
Also, the first products don’t have to be world beaters. There is even history of successful tests with using pigeons to guide missiles during WWII. Theoretically, all that is required would be to replace the pigeon with electronics.
i guess u misunderstood me.
i only wanted to inform u of what i knew regarding the development timeframe.
and surely i did not imply anything else
@ Mr. Adekola, good observation. By my suggestions, $1.2 bn directly goes to DICON in both upgrade and developmental aids as well as business contracts to supply small arms . If Nigeria was to do something like this. DICON would within the shortest possible time be supplying these equipment with different types of shells, rockets (guided and non guided) and acquire capabilities for a whole new range of domestic military development. The world is a lot more developed now than WWII era and valuable time should not be lost to wanting to develop new things from the start, in house. My vision is one in which Nigeria does major acquisition of equipment, expertise and technical knowledge within half a decade, spend half a decade growing with those acquisitions and by the end of a full decade of sustained engagement with various high tech equipment and facility, Nigeria will wean itself off major dependence on foreign dependence. If I remember correctly, Nigerian mechanics in the 70s already completely took apart a passenger liner and reassembled it again after studying the technical details. This was to position Nigeria then as a hub for major aircraft check and service to meet her domestic and regional needs but over the years, the highly skilled Nigerian airways crew and ground support staff were lost to developed countries. Something similar or greater than this is what can be achieved again after a decade of operating and servicing complex military systems.
Proforce is doing a great job.They should focus on the export market,when the Nigerian military is ready they will patronize them.
On the NA-Shia wahala.You don’t train someone to kill,send to the warfront and expect them to behave like civilians when they return.The blame rests on the COAS and the Shia leader.Most of our soldiers from diff. formations have at least a couple of months in the NE,where a crowd like like that could just be cover for a bh attack.
Oga Number one, there might be other reasons, but this is not one of them, the bedrock of any effective fighting force is discipline. which stems from complete obedience to all lawful orders/commands even at the firing line or war front with BH, I am sure Oga Ola who belongs to that tradition can tell us why the Brits stand tall in that regards , their discipline gave them victories even when drastically outnumbered during the colonial wars.
Oga Ola , good point, but it all falls back on the foundations of a national structure, where the nationals do not even care to know the national anthem or pledge. We continuous tell the younger ones that nothing good can come out of us, in our actions. talk, and approvals that we give to anything not Nigerian, There are estates in Nigeria that Nigerians are more or less not allowed in Abuja , Port Harcourt, etc. Personally we have no business buying IFVs from any out side Nigeria, it is not economical or will provide any dramatic capabilities above the local design in fighting a relegated insurgency group, What is in an IFV/APC that cannot be produced locally, after all drug barons in mexico build tanks and in Colombia they build submarines. Proforce has invested a lot of money in it’s projects and only an insane business man who got money not earned legally or someone already assured of inflated payments would put his money in our “much dreamed of ” military industry complex. while seeing the likes of Proforce struggle to get meaningful sales of their product. have you been to Ajaokuta ( A Complete town, seating doing nothing, just like the dreams of Nkurumah’s steel foundries for Ghana)
As for the Russians, we have limited access to their military’s specialized equipment except those on the general market and the $2B facilities might have been withdrawn.
Nigerian airways in it’s days was world standard in personnel and procedure, until one head of state decided to start degrading it. in addition to what you mentioned, 1970s and early 80s a lot of KLM “Dutch Flag carrier” flights, were done in Europe using Nigerian Airways pilots based in Amsterdam by KLM on secondment. The WT hangers were so well equipped as of then (more than Ethiopian airlines) and had started to carryout scheduled C checks. the had instrument and small pressure labs. They were already past masters on the Fokker aircraft type, by the time it was phased out and would have easily got the rights to maintain the type certification after the company went into bankruptcy.
Now a days, Once the Boeing facilities in the US are fully booked up, Boeing aircraft are flown from the US to Ethiopia Airways facilities for all scheduled maintenance checks on the airframe and crucial engine TBO checks/maintenance .
Right from the technician that carry out wheel building, interior upholstery to the Airframe sheet metal specialist, Engineers and flight crew were all first class, including the youngest DC 10 Captain in the world ( then in his mid 20s). Before things started going south, Boeing had positioned an oversight team of Quality Assurance engineers in Lagos for the Airline to start carrying out all major airframe check. All the noise about national hanger is all still just noise, the hanger is not about the building, but approved and qualified licensed personnel, equipments, certifications from the aircraft manufacturers and of cause a certain number of break even airframes per month to make the project viable and sustainable in regards to the cost of sophisticated equipment and trained personnel invested ( Technology transfer was thrown away with Nigerian airways) WT was owed $300M by people in the Government that wanted it to go away.
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2015/12/21/UK-to-increase-support-for-Nigerian-armed-forces-to-fight-Boko-Haram/3281450714695/