Corruption swallowed N4.85tn security allowance, experts say

By Olufemi Morgan and Godfrey George

July 31, 2022

Some security experts and a civil society organization said the 4.85 billion naira spent by the Buhari regime had been swallowed up by corruption allegedly perpetrated by the "heads of corrupt service" and other officers.

Saturday PUNCH reported that the federal government has provided 4.85 billion naira to the armed forces over the past eight years, through its annual budget allocations.

Federal budget allocations to the Army, Navy, and Air Force were primarily intended to cover personnel and overhead costs, as well as recurrent and fixed.

According to Federation Budget Office documents made available to one of our correspondents, the Nigerian Army received N3tn between 2015 and 2022, while the Nigerian Navy received N889bn of the Federation's account during the same period.

Expressing their frustration that such an outrageous sum had not been able to solve the problem decisively, they asked the government to audit the security budget for the last seven years.

Renowned security expert, Mr. Jackson Lekan-Ojo, has said that service chiefs should explain to Nigerians where all those funds that have been handed out over the past seven years have gone.

He said, "The problem is that when we look at insecurity, they don't consider the government to be frugal. This government is not frugal at all. They promised to fight corruption, but instead they fertilized corruption.

"If someone wants to be corrupt, why does he have to be in the field where it would be detrimental to all other sectors?" Insecurity will negatively affect the economy, the socio-political life of the country.”

Attacking members of the National Assembly, he said: "The members of the National Assembly who are threatening the president with impeachment now, they were never ready to act. There is the principle of checks and balances in the democratic framework, but it is not used.

"They will make a budget for the Department of Defense, Army and Navy General Staff, but no one will ask how the last one was spent. If they do another one now, that one too will follow the path of the previous one. There must be an audit of the account.

"That's why these people have become so corrupt. If these terrorists have the brazenness to dock the presidential convoy and mess up our rail system the next day, go to the prison of Kuje harboring terrible criminals, what can't they do, we are in danger, he said.

Another security consultant, Mr. Yemi Adeyemi, said serving chiefs of security should be called in to respond to how the funds were distributed.

"Where did all that money go?" We're talking over a trillion. What did they use it to do? I want to know; many Nigerians want to know.

“Corruption in this sector is something else. If we even see the dividends, that's different. Nowhere is safe in this country. It seems that our military has lost morale with the way they are being killed by these terrorists.

"It's unfair. It's like Abuja is under siege. We must meet these challenges. They have become bolder than they were. The government must be sincere about the "evolution of this issue of finances. You can't put so much money into a fight and get nothing in return. It's unfair," he said.

Another Lagos-based security expert, Oladele Fajana, noted that the money spent so far may not be the issue, saying security issues persist because all Nigerians had "refused to speak with one voice".< /p>

"It's not about the money spent so far. It's about the use of that money. Whenever issues like this arise, I'm always sorry for the government, the people and the security chiefs.

"When we say we should ban okada because of the way terrorists have started using it to commit crimes, some people will say, 'You want to take jobs at 40 000 people". Those are the problems. We are too sentimental, tribalistic, religious and political.''

“The next government could face worse challenges than this one. Professionally, when I counted the money, I was surprised. It shows that the money is not going to the right place. Corruption is one of the main reasons we ended up here,” he noted.

For his part, a social commentator and executive director of the Center for Anti Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said that the allowances were not the problem but the "professional will of the part of the intelligence services". and security agencies.

"They...