By Abdullahi O.Haruna Haruspice
It was all success stories and glitz at the President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard series, Monday, 13th February, 2023, when the ministry of Defence led by its minister, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd) presented the scorecard of Nigeria’s Defence handlings under the president Muhammadu Buhari administration since 2015.
The Minister who rated President Muhammadu Buhari high for his unprecedented and massive investment in military hardware, reeled out the many achievements of the administration said that the administration recognized security as one of its core areas, adding that without security, national development would become a mirage.
Going down the memory lane, the Minister recalled that as of 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took over the mantle of leadership, Boko Haram terrorists had kept the nation at a standstill, the military was underequipped and were unable to handle the many security challenges that confronted the nation.
He recalled also that that before 2015, Boko Haram ruled over a number of regions in the country’s north-east, the terrorist organization kidnapped and abducted people at will, separatist agitations, cultic conflicts, and community strife plagued the South West and South East, while crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism was at their crescendo, developments he said, impacted negatively on investment in the oil industry in the Niger Delta Region.
While the nation was held down by enormous security challenges, the Nigerian Armed Forces, according to Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd) were unable to properly combat the numerous threats largely due to inadequate platforms, lack of incentives for military personnel, and the declining political will.
During the presentation, the Minister who held the crowd spellbound, reminded them how President Muhammadu Buhari’s visionary leadership had favorably altered the security narrative in the country by building up the armed forces’ talents and capacity and investing massively in acquisition of military hardware.
The armed forces, according to the Minister, have also seen impressive advancements in the fields of personnel and veteran welfare, research and development, as well as investment in the area of infrastructural and manpower development.
Through ground breaking polices, unprecedented acquisition of platforms, recruitment and capacity development of personnel, infrastructural development, the nation has recorded remarkable progress in the area of security, the Defence boss said.
The Honourable Minister said President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has provided a safe and secure maritime border to prevent illegal activities on Nigeria’s waterways.
Through a number of operations, the Minister said that the Armed Forces had similarly performed admirably in the war against crude oil theft and illegal oil bunkering.
Up until this point, according to the Minister, a total of 5,840 illegal refining sites (IRS) had been deactivated since 2015.
According to Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), in all, more than 6 million barrels of crude oil, 1.2 billion litres of automatic gas oil, 24 million litres of dual purpose kerosene, and roughly 3 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) were all taken from oil thieves.
He noted that oil thieves were prevented access to more than 500 thousand barrels of crude oil, 41 million liters of AGO, 1.4 million liters of DPK, and more than 132 thousand liters of PMS in 2022, actions that had prevented the nation from losing about N158 billion.
