The House of Representatives could move for a review of processes leading to acquisition of arms and ammunitions for the Nigerian Army and all the security agencies operating in the country in the wake of the $2.1 billion arms purchase scandal rocking the country.
Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Army, Rima Shawulu who mooted the position, Wednesday, while speaking during the budget defence of the Nigerian Army which had the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai and other military chiefs in attendance, said a new approach to arms procurement will eliminate some of the controversies surrounding the exercise.
This is as the COAS Buratai also revealed reasons why the Nigerian Army does not have the powers to prosecute retired generals indicted in the arms purchase scandal.
“The controversies over the purchase of arms and ammunitions or alleged purchase of inferior or substandard arms call for an urgent review of our processes.
“Indeed our several scholar, leaders and generals have repeatedly affirmed, war is too important to be left in the hands of generals.
“The world has moved on in most democratic countries, representatives of the people, the parliament is involved in the details of implementation of budgets and procurement processes. “
However, the Shawulu-led committee differed on calling retired Service chiefs, who were involved in procurement for questioning.
Shawulu was of the opinion that the Green Chamber has constitutional power to investigate the arms purchases of the past administration and call anyone for interrogation.
The lawmaker also expressed concerns over the dilapidated state of the facilities in the 30 military formations and barracks which the committee visited during a recent familiarisation tour.
“In all, we visited and related with officers in about 30 formations in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Our discovery calls for a review in the way we do things.
“It is sobering that the officers and men who have dedicated their lives to fighting to keep us safe, live in such scandalous accommodation. It is also shocking that the decay and rot in the system has been left unchecked and our soldiers fighting without the required equipment.
Stressing the need for adequate budgetary provision for the rehabilitation of 117 barracks across the country, Shawulu, said his committee has sent a letter to Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Senate President Bukola Saraki to increase in the budgetary allocation for the Nigerian Army in the 2016 Budget.
The budget proposal for the Army is N160.848 billion as against N149.8 billion last year’s Budget.
In the proposal, N129.654 billion is allocated for personnel cost, N13.301 billion for overhead and N21.339 billion for capital component.
Meanwhile, responding to questions by the committee, Buratai said the army cannot investigate roles played by ex-army chiefs and other senior officers in the ongoing $2.1billion arms deal scandal because, as retired personnel, they fall beyond the purview of the army.
“The service chiefs and those involved in the procurement are retired, so, we are limited on the extent we can investigate them,” Buratai told the lawmakers.
Recently, some top ex-military personnel were invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the matter just as the former National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd) is currently facing criminal and corruption charges before the Federal High Court and Abuja High Court respectively.
