Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General TAOREED LAGBAJA, has identified inadequate funding and manpower as well as lack of a viable industrial base as some of the challenges hampering the contribution by the Nigerian Army to address the nation’s security challenges. 

LAGBAJA spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, while delivering the 2024 distinguished personality lecture, titled, “The roles and contributions of the Nigerian Army to national development”.

The COAS, who was represented by the Chief of Training (Army), Major General SANNI GAMBO MOHAMMED, said the federal government was committed to recruitment of more hands in the army as promised, stressing that the Nigerian Army, along with other security agencies, is under-resourced.

He noted that the inadequacy in funding is affecting the level of equipment holding of the Armed Forces of Nigeria which has a direct bearing on performance.