Missing arms fund: I was quoted out of context – NSA

The Office of the National Security Adviser on Friday denied that funds for arms procurement have gone missing under the former Service Chiefs.

The BBC’s Hausa Service had earlier reported that the NSA, Major-General Babagana Monguno, hinted at the missing funds during an interview.

“No one knows what happened to the money, but by God’s grace, the president will investigate to find out where it went or where the goods went,” the General reportedly said in Hausa.

But the ONSA said his comments had been 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.”

Instead, the ONSA statement said, Monguno had “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.”

The statement stressed that the NSA had “clearly informed the BBC reporter that Mr President has 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 equipments, in most cases the process involves manufacturing, due diligence and tedious negotiations that may change delivery dates.”

Nigeria has been ravaged with a number of security problems, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry across the North-West and ethnic tensions in the South.

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the nation’s newly appointed security chiefs to effect radical changes within six weeks. (Channels TV)