Babagana Monguno,
the National Security Adviser (NSA), has denied saying funds
appropriated for the purchase of arms went missing under the leadership
of the immediate past service chiefs, saying he was quoted out of
context.Munguno in an interview with BBC Hausa had said the newly appointed
service chiefs did not meet the funds approved for arms purchase when
they assumed office in January this year. Although he did not accuse the
immediate past service chiefs of misappropriating the funds, he said
the money might have been used in other ways unknown to anybody at
present.
Following the reactions that trailed his comment, his office released
a statement on Friday night, March 12 saying he was quoted out of
context.
The statement reads
“We would like to state that the NSA was quoted out of context as he
did not categorically say that funds meant for arms procurement were
missing under the former Service Chiefs as reported or transcribed by
some media outlets from the BBC interview.
During the interview, the National Security Adviser only reiterated
the Federal Government’s commitment to deal decisively with insecurity
and stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued commitment to provide
all necessary support to the Armed Forces, including the provision of
arms and equipment.
In the interview, the National Security Adviser clearly informed the
BBC reporter that Mr President has provided enormous resources for arms
procurement, but the orders were either inadequate or yet to be
delivered and that did not imply that the funds were misappropriated
under the former Service Chiefs.
The NSA also informed the reporter that Mr President is following up
on the procurement process as is usual with contracts relating to
military equipments, in most cases the process involves manufacturing,
due diligence and tedious negotiations that may change delivery dates.
As the National Security Adviser conveyed during the Aso Villa Media
Briefing, questions relating to Defence procurement should be channelled
to the Ministry of Defence.”
Read More »
