Source: BBC
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan wants the
government to borrow $1bn (£580m) to strengthen the military's capability to
fight militant Islamists.
Mr Jonathan wrote to parliament, asking for the
expenditure to be approved.
Nigeria has a military budget of about $6bn a year but
large sums are lost to corruption, critics say.
Mr Jonathan has faced intense criticism over the
government's failure to curb the increasingly brutal insurgency waged by the
Boko Haram group.
The Islamist group caused international outrage in April
when it abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in its heartland of north-eastern
Nigeria.
In the letter to the Senate and House of Representatives,
Mr Jonathan said he wanted to borrow the extra money as part of a
"government-to-government arrangement".
Boko
Haram is opposed to Western education
He did not specify which country he was looking at making
a deal with.
Mr Jonathan said there was an "urgent need" to
upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of the armed forces and security
services to help them confront the "serious threat" posed by Boko
Haram.
"For this reason, I seek the concurrence of the
National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1bn," he said.
Nigeria's military is receiving help from the US, UK,
China, France and Israel to secure the release of the schoolgirls.
Rights groups have repeatedly accused the military of
carrying out widespread abuses against civilians, as it tries to hunt down
insurgents.
Mr Jonathan sent more troops to the north-east last year
after declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, the three
states worst-affected by the insurgency.
However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says more than 2,000
civilians have been killed in Nigeria this year by Boko Haram.
The deaths occurred in around 95 separate attacks in more
than 70 towns and villages in the north-east, where Boko Haram launched its
insurgency in 2009.
Who are Boko Haram?
- Founded in 2002
- Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
- Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
- Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
- Some three million people affected
- Declared terrorist group by US in 2013
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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