FG not getting its budget priorities right, says Ben Bruce

Senator Ben Murray Bruce has expressed worries that the Federal Government would budget N462 billion to educate 65 million youths and children but N500 billion to fight less than 100,000 terrorists.

He was reacting to the N462 billion budgeted for education in 2019 Appropriation Bill and N1.3 trillion for security, out of which N500 billion was meant for insurgency fight.

Bruce, who took to his Twitter handle to decry the development, described the situation as part of the cause of Nigeria’s problems.

He wrote: “We budget N462 billion for education and N1.3 trillion for security. We have 65 million youths and children and we are spending N462 billion to educate them. We have less than 100,000 terrorists and we are spending over N500 billion to fight them. Do you now see the problem?

“The defence and security budget of Nigeria is 3 times the education & youth development budget. By now, the penny should have dropped. The reason we are arming our soldiers to kill is because we are not arming our youths with skills. Education is the BEST way to fight insecurity.

“Unless we arrest the decay in our education system, we will keep on arresting our youths for crime and insecurity. The human mind is a terrible thing to waste and Nigeria has a gold medal in wasting minds, both by killing education and killing criminals.”