NSA denies saying arms funds missing under ex-service chiefs

• Funds can’t be missing in Buhari govt – Presidency

National Security Adviser to the President, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.) has denied saying that funds meant for the purchase of arms to strengthen Nigeria’s anti-terror war got missing under the immediate past service chiefs.

He said he was quoted out of context in the reports emanating from his earlier interview with BBC Hausa Service on the matter.

The Presidency through President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide, Garba Shehu, also said on a television programme Friday evening that funds could not get missing in the Buhari government and that the NSA was misquoted.

In an interview on BBC Hausa Friday morning, the NSA had said the new service chiefs had not seen any of the arms said to have been procured by the immediate past service chiefs and that the failure to provide arms to frontline military personnel was a setback to the fight against insecurity in the nation.

The NSA had said, “No one knows what happened to the money but by God’s grace, the President will investigate to find out whether the money was spent and where the arms went.

“It is not that we are not working to end the security challenge in the country. The president has done his own part and allocated huge amount of money to purchase weapons but they are yet to be here. We don’t know where they are.”

But in a press statement later, the NSA said government had provided sufficient resources for the 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 statement added, “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 had 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 equipment. 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. All security and intelligence agencies are working together to bring an end to insecurity with the full support of Mr. President and stakeholders, including the media and civil society, as part of a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach to address our security challenges.”

The Presidency has also said no funds were missing under the watch of the immediate past service chiefs.

It stated that procurements had been made for military weapons but yet to be delivered.

According to Shehu, the NSA was misquoted, stressing that Monguno did not accuse the ex-service chiefs of misappropriation of funds.

He said, “About the $1 billion taken from the Excess Crude Account with the consent of state governors used for military procurements, I want to assure you that nothing of that money is missing. The reference to it in the interview of the BBC Hausa Service by the National Security Adviser has been misconstrued and mistranslated.

“The NSA made two critical points –one is that we don’t have enough weapons, which is a statement of fact; and two, procurements made have not been fully delivered. At no point did the NSA say that money has been misappropriated and that no arms are seen. They have not been delivered; that is correct. These are things you don’t get off the shelves.

“People are just been political, they want to draw moral equivalent between the PDP and the APC administrations – we are not the same. Things like this cannot happen under a Buhari administration.”