The Nigerian Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Thursday condemned “in strong terms” the latest Transparency International (TI) report alleging massive graft in the defense procurement in the military in the last two years.
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In a press conference on Thursday, Defense Spokesman, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, said the report is another ploy to discredit the current crop of leadership and to discourage international partners from supporting Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram insurgency.
Gen. Enenche noted that far from the allegations of TI, the military has established procurement branches in all the three Services and no longer engages the services of vendors or contractors.
He said that the Nigerian Government now deals directly with sovereign states and buys its military hardware from government industrial complexes.
TI has said in its report that graft in the military is weakening Nigeria’s efforts to effectively battle Boko Haram.
It said that Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to tackle corruption and terrorism is being hampered by the lack of transparency in military contract awards.
“Corrupt military officials have been able to benefit from the conflict through the creation of fake defense contracts, the proceeds of which are often laundered abroad in the UK, US and elsewhere.”
Corruption, it said, made it difficult for the military to acquire the required equipment and training to take on the militants who are armed with sophisticated weapons.
It called on the government to make its defense budget and procurement systems more transparent.
It recalled that in 2016, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (now Acting President) said around US$15 billion had been stolen from the public purse under the previous government through fraudulent arms procurement deals.
According to TI, this had left the military “without vital equipment, insufficiently trained personnel, low in morale and under-resourced.
This has crippled the Nigerian military in fighting an aggressive ideologically inspired enemy such as Boko Haram,” TI said.
Source PANA
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