By Sam Ike, Abuja<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai (retd.), has said the $1bn approved for defence procurement during his tenure was released to the Ministry of Defence and did not pass through his hands or the accounts of the Nigerian Army, Navy or Air Force. He made the clarification at a conference of the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Abuja, insisting that responsibility for explaining how the funds were spent should rest with the institution that managed the procurement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buratai described allegations that the money was diverted for political purposes as malicious, recalling that the controversy emerged during the 2019 general election. He said the Federal Government had publicly refuted the allegations at the time but lamented that the controversy continued to damage the reputations of service chiefs, rather than focusing attention on the ministry responsible for handling the funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He faulted the Ministry of Defence for failing to provide sufficient public explanations about the disbursement of the money and the award of contracts. According to him, the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force did not receive any portion of the fund for direct procurement, making it necessary for accountability to be directed at the institution responsible for the transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retired army chief called for greater transparency in military procurement, proposing a Defence Procurement Transparency Portal to publish details of contracts, contracting entities and delivery timelines, subject to legitimate national security restrictions. He said such a platform would enable the public and the media to obtain accurate information about defence spending from the appropriate authorities. He also advocated quarterly accountability bulletins on court martial proceedings involving alleged human rights violations and operational misconduct, provided they did not prejudice accused personnel or compromise military operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On allegations of human rights abuses by security personnel, Buratai maintained that credible complaints must be investigated and prosecuted where evidence establishes wrongdoing. He said the military must demonstrate that its disciplinary procedures are credible and transparent, adding that better communication between the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and the media would improve public understanding of security operations without shielding institutions from scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the conference, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, represented by the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Jibrin Ndace, said Nigeria\u2019s security challenges required more than military force. He advocated improved intelligence gathering, modern technology, stronger inter agency cooperation and community engagement. Idris also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu had directed the preparation of a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five year Strategic Defence Operations Plan in August 2026, while approving salary increases of between 30 and 80 per cent for Armed Forces personnel, effective September 2026. He urged journalists to verify security information, report accurately and hold public institutions accountable while respecting legitimate operational sensitivities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sam Ike, Abuja Former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai (retd.), has said the $1bn approved for defence procurement during his tenure was released to the Ministry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pages"],"yoast_head":"\n