EDITORIAL: The Root Cause Of American Disaffection
It is not just the United States that is expressing disaffection with Nigeria over the security issue, Canada and the European Union have also expressed reservations as well. It means that the criticism is not from one unhappy messenger alone.
Nigeria must now look at the war economy that has arising from the war against insurgency. A former President of the USA, Dwight Eisenhower warned in his last major speech on his way out of the White House in 1959 that a military-industrial complex which was emerging could destroy America’s democracy. He was prophetic as subsequent events in Vietnam, Laos, Iraq demonstrated.
We must now face the military industrial complex profiting from the war economy and ever-increasing defence expenditure. The National Assembly must now do proper monitoring and oversight and insist on a Performance Planning Budget System. Without transparency, we will be trapped in a never ending war for the benefit of profiteers.
The Performance Planning Budget System is the way out for Nigeria now. It was introduced by US President John F Kennedy in order to streamline the defense budget and as a counterattack against the war profitters. It is not perfect, but it is a necessary beginning.
