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Nigeria is to
review its defence policy in order to have a clear cut direction on the
operation of its Armed Forces, especially outside the country, the
Minister of Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode, said in Abuja on Thursday.

Mr. Kayode also said the Armed Forces have come under pressure for undertaking to assist in maintaining internal security.

He spoke at a
meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, chaired
by Wole Oke. The minister was accompanied by the minister of state,
Murtala Shehu Yar’Adua, and other senior officials of the ministry to
his maiden meeting with the committee.

Responding to a
question by a member of the committee, Umar Bature, who also chairs the
foreign committee of the Lower Chamber, the minister said Nigeria is
known for its peace-keeping efforts all over the world, and that if the
country’s defence policy is reformed, it would know where the Armed
Forces would be deployed to.

Mr. Kayode told the
lawmakers committee that the last defence policy was formulated in
2006, and that the ministry recognises that such policies should be
updated every five years to conform to meet current challenges, not
only in the country, but also across the world.

Hands on leadership

Mr. Kayode said the
Armed Forces have been assisting in maintaining internal security in
the country, but quickly added that this has put a lot of pressure on
them, especially in the area of funding. Presently, he added, the Armed
Forces have developed a joint working operation in 24 states, including
Jos in Plateau State, and the Niger Delta region.

The minister assured the lawmakers that the ministry under him would partner with legislature to reposition the military.

Earlier, Mr. Oke,
the committee chairman, urged the minister to work in harmony with the
committee. He also said a bill which seeks to exit the country’s Armed
Forces from the pension scheme is currently before the House, stressing
that the Armed Forces of other nations have since disengaged from such
scheme.

The lawmaker also
asked the minister to look at the 2010 Budget, which was assented to
recently by the acting president and ensure that projects proposed for
the ministry are executed.

Also speaking, a
member of the committee, Chinedu Eluemuno (PDP, Anambra), asked Mr.
Kayode to “be in charge of the details of everything that happens in
the ministry so that tomorrow you can give account of the happenings
there.”

The lawmaker
recounted how the former defence minister, Godwin Abbe, could not
provide the committee with satisfactory explanation on who deployed
soldiers to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, to receive President
Umaru Yar’Adua from Saudi Arabia last month.