On the authority of Mr President, a 13 man committee was set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to date. While the committee which was inaugurated on 31 August 2015 is yet to complete its work, its interim report has unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial transactions.
As
part of the findings, the committee has analyzed interventions from
some organizations that provided funds to the Office of the National
Security Adviser, Defence Headquarters, Army Headquarters Naval
Headquarters and Nigerian Air Force Headquarters, both in local and
foreign currencies.
So
far the total extra budgetary interventions articulated by the
committee is Six Hundred and Forty Three Billion, Eight Hundred and
Seventeen Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand, Eight Hundred and
Eighty Five Hundred Naira and Eighteen Kobo (N643,817,955,885.18).
The
foreign currency component is to the tune of Two Billion, One Hundred
and Ninety Three Million, Eight Hundred and Fifteen Thousand US Dollars
and Eighty Three Cents ($2,193,815,000.83).
These
amounts exclude grants from the State Governments and funds collected
by the DSS and Police. It was observed that in spite of this huge
financial intervention, very little was expended to support defense
procurement.
The
committee also observed that of 513 contracts awarded at
$8,356,525,184.32; N2,189,265,724,404.55 and €54,000.00; Fifty Three
(53) were failed contracts amounting to $2,378,939,066.27 and
N13,729,342,329.87 respectively.
Interestingly,
it was noted that the amount of foreign currency spent on failed
contracts was more than double the $1bn loan that the National Assembly
approved for borrowing to fight the insurgency in the North East.
The
committee also discovered that payments to the tune of Three Billion,
Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N3,850,000,000.00) were made to a
single company by the former NSA without documented evidence of
contractual agreements or fulfillment of tax obligations to the FGN.
Further
findings revealed that between March 2012 and March 2015, the erstwhile
NSA, Lt Col MS Dasuki (rtd) awarded fictitious and phantom contracts to
the tune of N2,219,188,609.50, $1,671,742,613.58 and €9,905,477.00. The
contracts which were said to be for the purchase of 4 Alpha Jets, 12
helicopters, bombs and ammunition were not executed and the equipment
were never supplied to the Nigerian Air Force, neither are they in its
inventory.
Even
more disturbing was the discovery that out of these figures, 2
companies, were awarded contracts to the tune of N350,000,000.00,
$1,661,670,469.71 and €9,905,477.00 alone. This was without prejudice to
the consistent non-performance of the companies in the previous
contracts awarded.
Additionally,
it was discovered that the former NSA directed the Central Bank of
Nigeria to transfer the sum of $132,050,486.97 and €9,905,473.55 to the
accounts of Societe D’equipmente Internationaux in West Africa, United
Kingdom and United States of America for un-ascertained purposes,
without any contract documents to explain the transactions.
The
findings made so far are extremely worrying considering that the
interventions were granted within the same period that our troops
fighting the insurgency in the North East were in desperate need of
platforms, military equipment and ammunition. Had the funds siphoned to
these non performing companies been properly used for the purpose they
were meant for, thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been
avoided.
Furthermore,
the ridicule Nigeria has faced in the international community would
have been avoided. It is worrisome and disappointing that those
entrusted with the security of this great nation were busy using proxies
to siphon the national treasury, while innocent lives were wasted
daily.
In
light of these findings, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that
the relevant organizations arrest and bring to book, all individuals who
have been found complicit in these illegal and fraudulent acts.
