EDITO: Taming the scourge of the theft of security funds
A national policy dialogue on corruption and insecurity in Nigeria, recently organized by the Independent Commission on Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses (ICPC), unearthed what unfortunately does not attract attention national. National security funds are brazenly stolen in the country by top security brass, contractors and bureaucrats. This is in the context of the demand for adequate funding from security agencies amid growing security concerns that have resulted in the wanton killings, kidnappings and maimings of thousands of citizens by non-state actors.
Dialogue organizer and ICPC President, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, lamented that the Police Trust Fund, created just three years ago, specifically in 2019, by a law of the parliament, being aggressively attacked by locals of public corruption in high places, thus undermining the government's efforts to re-equip or reposition the Force. In the 2021 budget, 74 billion naira has been earmarked for PTFs and earmarked for the training and retraining of police personnel. But that goal is about to be derailed if the aggressors are not effectively subdued. It is for this reason that PREMIUM TIMES considers "the investigation for abuse, embezzlement, questionable social packaging which is not for the police who are the beneficiaries of the fund and various corrupt practices" by the ICPC as the more healthy.
Nigeria's police force is totally dysfunctional, forcing the federal government to transfer its statutory responsibilities to the military. Professionally, this is detrimental because the army has been overstretched in the 36 states of the federation. It is very troubling that some elite cohorts want this status quo to continue. Therefore, the CPIC investigation must be thorough, open and conclusive; and those who have questions to answer must be compelled to speak in accordance with the law.
The embezzlement does not only concern the police, it affects other security services. A former service chief embezzled 4 billion naira from the military budget, which he deposited in the accounts of two companies of which he is the beneficial owner and sole signatory, with which he bought properties on behalf of cronies and proxies. Already, the ICPC has recovered 220 million naira from the 1 billion naira of civil servants in a line ministry transferred to four shell companies; funds for special operations. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had recovered 2.4 billion naira and $156 million from a former service chief, as testified by prosecution witness Tosin Owobo in a trial in the Federal High Court in March 2018. The wife of said officer spat out N382 million.
It will also be recalled that a former chief of defense staff, Alex Badeh, was tried for alleged theft of 3.97 billion naira as chief of air staff , but the trial was canceled following his sudden death in 2019. Prior to this, a prosecution witness told the court how he stole 558 million naira per month from payroll, converted it into dollars and pocketed it.
We also learned how $2.1 billion set aside for arms purchases was allegedly shared with political party apparatchiks through 78 companies during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) estimates that approximately $15 billion has been wasted over the past 20 years on compromised arms purchase deals.
Incidents like these explain why non-state actors like Boko Haram, the Islamic State of West Africa Province, bandits and kidnappers wield weapons superior to those possessed by our operatives. security. Thus, Nigeria has become the second most terrorized country after Iraq, according to the 2022 semi-annual report by the Global and International Terrorism Research/Analysis group. On several occasions, bandits, insurgents or separatist agitators ransacked police stations, military sites and communities with their superior firepower without any resistance.
Reports of security personnel on front lines in the northeast confirm the sophisticated nature of the weapons and ammunition the insurgents are carrying. In some cases, state agents withered or fled during fights with them. This was evident during the ISWAP invasion of Kuje medium security prison in July, during which 888 inmates were released, including 64 Boko Haram...
A national policy dialogue on corruption and insecurity in Nigeria, recently organized by the Independent Commission on Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses (ICPC), unearthed what unfortunately does not attract attention national. National security funds are brazenly stolen in the country by top security brass, contractors and bureaucrats. This is in the context of the demand for adequate funding from security agencies amid growing security concerns that have resulted in the wanton killings, kidnappings and maimings of thousands of citizens by non-state actors.
Dialogue organizer and ICPC President, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, lamented that the Police Trust Fund, created just three years ago, specifically in 2019, by a law of the parliament, being aggressively attacked by locals of public corruption in high places, thus undermining the government's efforts to re-equip or reposition the Force. In the 2021 budget, 74 billion naira has been earmarked for PTFs and earmarked for the training and retraining of police personnel. But that goal is about to be derailed if the aggressors are not effectively subdued. It is for this reason that PREMIUM TIMES considers "the investigation for abuse, embezzlement, questionable social packaging which is not for the police who are the beneficiaries of the fund and various corrupt practices" by the ICPC as the more healthy.
Nigeria's police force is totally dysfunctional, forcing the federal government to transfer its statutory responsibilities to the military. Professionally, this is detrimental because the army has been overstretched in the 36 states of the federation. It is very troubling that some elite cohorts want this status quo to continue. Therefore, the CPIC investigation must be thorough, open and conclusive; and those who have questions to answer must be compelled to speak in accordance with the law.
The embezzlement does not only concern the police, it affects other security services. A former service chief embezzled 4 billion naira from the military budget, which he deposited in the accounts of two companies of which he is the beneficial owner and sole signatory, with which he bought properties on behalf of cronies and proxies. Already, the ICPC has recovered 220 million naira from the 1 billion naira of civil servants in a line ministry transferred to four shell companies; funds for special operations. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had recovered 2.4 billion naira and $156 million from a former service chief, as testified by prosecution witness Tosin Owobo in a trial in the Federal High Court in March 2018. The wife of said officer spat out N382 million.
It will also be recalled that a former chief of defense staff, Alex Badeh, was tried for alleged theft of 3.97 billion naira as chief of air staff , but the trial was canceled following his sudden death in 2019. Prior to this, a prosecution witness told the court how he stole 558 million naira per month from payroll, converted it into dollars and pocketed it.
We also learned how $2.1 billion set aside for arms purchases was allegedly shared with political party apparatchiks through 78 companies during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) estimates that approximately $15 billion has been wasted over the past 20 years on compromised arms purchase deals.
Incidents like these explain why non-state actors like Boko Haram, the Islamic State of West Africa Province, bandits and kidnappers wield weapons superior to those possessed by our operatives. security. Thus, Nigeria has become the second most terrorized country after Iraq, according to the 2022 semi-annual report by the Global and International Terrorism Research/Analysis group. On several occasions, bandits, insurgents or separatist agitators ransacked police stations, military sites and communities with their superior firepower without any resistance.
Reports of security personnel on front lines in the northeast confirm the sophisticated nature of the weapons and ammunition the insurgents are carrying. In some cases, state agents withered or fled during fights with them. This was evident during the ISWAP invasion of Kuje medium security prison in July, during which 888 inmates were released, including 64 Boko Haram...
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