The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, who made this known in Abuja on Sunday, however, said all the terrorists were killed by a joint task force comprising soldiers, police and some civilian volunteers.
The lawmaker, who expressed dissatisfaction over lack of arms and ammunition to prosecute the war despite the huge budgetary allocation, noted with concern that the huge allocation to the military was being spent on personnel and overhead cost instead of channelling the funds to arms procurement.
Ndume nevertheless commended the troops at the war front for their patriotism despite lack of arms to fight with.
He said: “A joint task force comprising the soldiers, police and the civilian JTF on Friday killed all the insurgents that came to attack Monguno and other adjoining communities.
“I commend the military and other security agencies that contributed to the success of the operation.
“By their action, the security operatives are sending strong messages to the insurgents that they would all be killed whenever they attack any village again.
“Unfortunately during the attack, about four soldiers sustained injuries, while pursuing the insurgents.
“We encourage them to do more in order to bring the issue of insurgency under control.
“We are spending a lot of money on the Armed Forces, but we are not spending enough on the procurement of modern equipment to fight the war.
“It is a different thing when we have a high personnel and overhead cost and a different scenario when you’re spending a little to acquire the necessary equipment arms and ammunition.
“I have been crying out that the budget every year for the procurement of arms and ammunition is too small.
“When you spend N500 billion on the Army, but less than N30 billion goes to procurement of arms and ammunition, it is just as if you are paying labourers without giving them the necessary tools to work with.
“It is true that the Armed Forces do not have enough equipment.
“I understand the procurement process, but the FG should find a way to get the necessary arms and ammunition so as to end the war on time.
“I have said it that our soldiers do not have new AK 47 rifle whereas the insurgents are displaying brand new, assorted rifles and weapons that are modern.
“As for the $1 billion taken from the Excess Crude Account, there were controversial statement on it.
“The House of Representatives is already probing it, but the truth of the matter is that we have not seen the reception or the deployment of the new equipment.
“We need them on ground.
“Most of the equipment on ground are the old ones either being refurbished or those being desperately manufactured by the Defence Industry Corporation in Kaduna.
“We need drones, tracking devices, telecommunications equipment that could be used to gather intelligence, real time.”
