Due to the minister’s disregard for the summons, the Senate suspends the Ministry of Defense funding.

On Tuesday, the Senate declined to take up the Ministry of Defence’s 2023 budget because Minister Bashiru Magashi had declined invitations from the Senate Adhoc Committee to discuss the resuscitation of the largest ship in the Nigerian Navy’s fleet, the NNS ARADU.

The decision was made by the Senate’s Committee on Defence after former Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North) interrupted to call other committee members’ attention to an earlier Senate action that had called the Minister of Defense to appear before its Adhoc Committee to explain the Naval ship.

Abdullahi claims that a motion concerning the necessity of reviving the NNA Aradu, Nigeria’s flagship and the most potent ship in the Nigerian Navy’s fleet, was brought up on the Senate floor in February.

In order to communicate with the Minister of Defense and identify means to revive the grounded NNS Aradu, the Senate later established an Adhoc Committee, which was chaired by him, he reminded the parliamentarians.

According to Senator Abdullahi, the Minister declined to accept any of the three invitations that his Adhoc Committee sent to him over the past three months.

Only three nations in the world—Germany, Argentina, and Nigeria—own the formidable naval ship.

According to Abdullahi, the ship is intended to safeguard Nigeria’s territorial integrity. He noted that, in contrast to other nations, Nigeria has not maintained its flagship, which symbolizes the power of its navy.

Senator Aliu Wamakko, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, also spoke extensively about the necessity to immediately revive the Navy ship. He then requested that the minister of defense leave with the budget and return only after getting clearance from the Senate Adhoc Committee.