http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/05/nigerian-army-mali-mission-delayed?INTCMP=SRCH

The "shocking" state of the Nigerian army has delayed plans for a military intervention in Mali, amid reports that it lacks the capability to fight on the frontline.

A senior source in Mali told the Guardian that a lack of training and discipline among Nigerian troops – who are being heavily relied on by regional bloc Ecowas to oust Islamists in control of northern Mali – is becoming increasingly apparent.

"The Nigerian army is in a shocking state," said the source, who has seen recent assessments of Ecowas's military capability. "In reality there is no way they are capable of forward operations in Mali – their role is more likely to be limited to manning checkpoints and loading trucks."

"The Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don't have the capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres," the source added. "They have poor discipline and support. They are more likely to play a behind-the-scenes role in logistics and providing security."

The positive side of this story is that the Nigerian Army is capable of manning checkpoints and loading trucks. The Govt has to explain how our ever increasing defence budget is utilised.

Our current budget for defence has climbed slightly to just over 1% of GDP. With these statistics in mind, should we be spending more, or less? Does Nigeria exist among hostile neighbours or expecting an invasion to justify current or escalated levels of military spending? That is something that needs not only thoughtful reflection, but to be openly debated and some national consensus arrived at.

Let us now look more closely at the budget proposals for 2012. The Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces were allocated N326.354bn, consisting of N252.7bn as personnel cost, N39bn as overhead and N34.67bn for capital spending - i.e. for equipment, buildings and weaponry of all descriptions. The bureaucracy overseeing the whole defence establishment consisting of the Ministry populated mostly by politicians and civil servants, and the Defence Headquarters, where passed-over generals, admirals and air marshalls are warehoused, along with other officers and men will consume about N25.9bn of the budget, or about N342,000 to service each soldier, airman and rating in the Armed Forces. This is excessive and can be cut down, as little value addition is gained from this spending.

The Nigerian Army's 60,000 officers and men are distributed across five divisions and an elite brigade listed here in accordance with the order of battle in case of conflict (1) Presidential Guards Brigade, Abuja (2) 82nd Division, Enugu (3) 2nd Infantry Division, Ibadan (4) 3rd Armoured Division, Jos (5) 1st Mechanized Division, Kaduna and (6) Lagos Garrison now renamed 81st Division. The major equipment of the Army include battle tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, personnel carriers, Howitzers, field guns and rocket launchers, as well as anti-tank guns and surface to air missiles. A large percentage of these are aged and out of service, and need urgent updating and replacement. The total budget of the Army is N122.4bn, nearly a third of the total defence budget but only N5.77bn is for acquisition of equipment and weaponry, while N116.7bn is for recurrent needs. The average direct cost per head of our soldiers and men is some N1.61 million compared with between N7-10 million for the Air force and Navy (see below) indicating an urgent need to right-size the Army to free up resources for operational equipment, tools and training.

http://saharareporters.com/article/budget-2012-5-defence-spending-nasir-ahmad-el-rufai

El Rufai wrote the above illuminating article at the start of the year. It's clear they need to downsize staff focusing on non-military staff to free up money to be spent on training and equipment. There should be an audit of the budget as it's clear wide scale looting is going on.

Hahhahahahahahahahaha so na only to man check post, load trucks and beat up civilians our soldiers fit do. Nawah oo

So na only for streets soja get mouth naw abi na oNly jehova God fit help this country.even for mali we no fit fight

Another Useless, worthless, garbage report.

Who was the source of the claim? The Guardian (UK) does not state. For all we know it was the Guardian reporter himself inventing the claim using his 'unnamed source' as buffer. Don't trust these UK reporters past where you can see them.

It really would help if Nigerians start to read these dodgy foreign reports with their brains, and discard them accordingly. Was it not this same British media that gave all the credit for ECOMOG ie Nigeria's removal of the rebels in Sierra Leone to Tony Blair? If you were in the UK at the time like I was, you would think it was the UK military that brought the conflict to an end, such was the completely biased and false reporting of the conflict! Not a whiff about Nigeria and the huge, pivotal role she played in the conflict.

Now today they issue this wild and baseless report about Nigerian troops and some of you just gobble it up without thinking? Pathetic.

Are Nigerians self esteem so low to that extent that somebody somewhere wrote an unverified negative report about you and you believed it instantly without thinking twice. Well US ARMY that is well trained enter somalia and could not do anything however Nigeria army enter serea lone and captured it within a week.
Although am not in support of fighting any war, but they that are well trained what peace have they brought into the world.

Na to raid unarmed citizenry them sabi.

Illiterate ancient Ak-47 packing dogs

.....lol, should i call this the resurgence of 4play? Long, long time dude

It is so unfortunate that in this age and time, a normal human beign will believe this 'report'. When it come to peace keeping operations and ground troop capability, Nigerian troops are among the best in WORLD, not even Africa.
Take it or leave it, this story is planted to drag our men into Northern Mali quicker than Nigeria military strategists have planned. UK is a member of the UN security council, I need to hear the exploits of their men in NATO backed operations. I am not interested in 'what they did with the Americans'

. It's a pity that this dimwits think they own the world .

"They lack basic training " So sad to the Nigeria army

Apart from checking point where easy hv u seen them.

Let's not allow the wicked to mind trap us. Often times, people hypnotise the public through the media. If the above statement is true, then, why was Nigerian army ranked no. 4th in the world weeks ago. Nonsense.

Just another report meant to tarnish Nigeria's image.

1. This same Nigerian army was the first nation to send troops to Darfur. When other nations were scared and foot dragging.
2. What the Nigerian Army did in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the US and British Army could not do in Somalia.
3. The UN still relies heavily on the Nigerian Army for supply of troops in Peace keeping operations. Nigeria is one the world's largest contributors of troops to the UN.
4. Since they feel the Nigerian Army is in a bad state. Then let them call on Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Togo and Benin or are they no human beings also.

The report is baseless and malicious

Nigerians will not heed an advice. Go on continue playing the ostrich. They are telling you that corruption has eaten up your fighting force and some analysis was provided. But all you can do is to shout blue murder. Why can't you produce a counter analysis to show how the ever increasing military and security budget has improved the armed forces' capability and effectiveness?

Make war start first, then we go know

true, but i hope they are not indirectly trying to instigate the army.

slimming: Apart from checking point where easy hv u seen them.

what are you saying dude?...where have you been to,have you ever left your street before.

I support the Article.. I was in Ghana some years back and I had this Ghanian Army Cornel as my friend, the only thing he said about the Nigerian Army was that they lacked decipline and we all know that decipline is the most important asset of the military. Altho he said Nigeria had a lot of smart officers but their lack of decipline limits their achievements

I guess I am not surprised cuz things only get worse over time in this country

But Elrufia wrote a column on this same topic. those talking about ECOMOG and the rest, just remember it is in the past. The truth is, corruption will destroy our country and all of our lives.

seunfly: Are Nigerians self esteem so low to that extent that somebody somewhere wrote an unverified negative report about you and you believed it instantly without thinking twice. Well US ARMY that is well trained enter somalia and could not do anything however Nigeria army enter serialone and capture it within a week.
Although am not in support of fighting any war, but they that are well trained what peace have they brought into the world.

Sharap and keep queit, somalia and serialone are two different country, why not send Nigeria army to somalia and get result... Mtweech

The army beats civilians;
They are corrupt;
Compromised by boko-haram (with ties in mali).

Forget what they achieved in the past, the Nigerian army isn't much to write bout now!!

Shit I shoot better than their "iron sight" shooters!!

The person that said this was completely mad and crazy to the extent that he didn't know he was talking of the Nigerian army that were rated the best in terms of Combat and when it comes to gun fire,we're never behind,besides,almost every country respects our army. So,why would an idiot be saying this thrash? It's absurd.

How can we not have basic training when our military colleges are used by the West African Region.

kawkab: Just another report meant to tarnish Nigeria's image.

1. This same Nigerian army was the first nation to send troops to Darfur. When other nations were scared and foot dragging.
2. What the Nigerian Army did in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the US and British Army could not do in Somalia.
3. The UN still relies heavily on the Nigerian Army for supply of troops in Peace keeping operations. Nigeria is one the world's largest contributors of troops to the UN.
4. Since they feel the Nigerian Army is in a bad state. Then let them call on Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Togo and Benin or are they no human beings also.

The report is baseless and malicious

Very well said. And don't be surprised Nigerians will celebrate over this stupid report coz they are their own worst enemies. They like to hear bad news about Nigeria.

They are not far from the truth. The
following are evidence in support of their
claim that Nigerian forces are incapable
of mounting offence operation or doing
basic military manoeuvres;

1. They were unable to subdue Nigerdelta
militants. They resorted to the massacre of
civilian populations to instill fear in the
populace. It was the politicians who were
able to calm the situation with amnesty
programme.

2. Boko haram menance is still ongoing in
the northern region. Soldiers who were
sent to the region are unable to exert
control over the situation. All evidence
suggests that the crisis is spreading to
other parts of the northern region.

So the British tabloid observation is in
sync with the events on the ground. We don't have to play ostrich.

NIgeria Army are Civilian in Uniform.

It is so apparent by the way the army are getting involve in politics instead of security.

Cheap Propaganda by armo manufacturers and Imbeciles. Nigeria doesn't need war so we will not send our troops in harms way. Na when we reach Mali we go know, all this na to make us keep our gates open for mali boko ? Tufiakwa! don't use reverse engineering on us. Our troups are for checkpoints and road blocks and not for war. Can UK win a war ? Even America has lost her last 3 wars. The era of boots on ground is over. All we need is to load our nukes on our drones and wipe out the country that provoke us. 21st century war are cyber and am sure we got great minds in cyber warfar. Fvck you to the reporter.

How true this report is ,I know not
Yet has the NA refuted it?
For those yapping ECOMOG, recall that those exploits are in the past,past glories
What peace keeping effort/head swelling stunt has the NA done of late?
That apart can the NA engage in modern warfare?
Does the Nigerian Armed Forces have the kind of capabilities shown in films like Battleship or Ghost Recon Alpha?

Pls Nairalanders, i need answers to this question. The Nigerian Army was highly praised for their historic activities during the Military regime. Is the N.A being negatively affected by democracy?

Nigerians like living in denial and such attitude only allows our leaders to deride us more. Imagine a respected poster like Rossike claimiing the article is Gibberish .. What part of the article don't we already know about ..

1 That Nigerian Soldiers are just good enuff to man check points:: is that not what we see them do only in here in Nigeria .

2 That they are poorly equipped::: When even see them at their check points don we see them poorly dressed and dirty with even bathroom slippers .. Except we say the bottle of Alomo they pack is good equipment

3 That they are Indiciplined :: when we meet them at their check points don't we all see the rag tag manner in which the handle their duty post , Smoking weed , drinking cheap alchohol, threatening to shoot and extorting drivers ..

4 The are just fit for loading trucks..:: We complain but who doesn't know that our soldiers know how load trucks be it with corpse of innocent civilians caught up in their indiciplined fire line and wanton arrest of people