Standup9ja: How ex-military chiefs stole $15bn - Report
Former Nigerian military chiefs stole as much as US $15
billion through fraudulent arms procurement deals, a report said.
The report tagged; “Weaponising Transparency: Defence
Procurement Reform as a Counterterrorism Strategy in Nigeria,” revealed that
huge sums equivalent to half of Nigeria’s foreign currency reserves were
stolen.
The 19-page report by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy
Centre (CISLAC) and Transparency International (TI) UK, unveiled yesterday in
Abuja said defence sector corruption has weakened Nigerian counterterrorism
capacity and strengthened Boko Haram terrorists.
It was jointly presented by the Executive Director of
CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani and a Senior Legal Researcher at TI, Eva Marie
Anderson.
“Nigeria’s corrupt elites have profited from conflict; with
oil prices at a record low, defence has provided new and lucrative opportunities
for the country’s corrupt kleptocrats.
“Defence sector corruption in Nigeria has enabled the
political elite to accumulate and distribute political patronage. Longstanding
military exceptionalism, meanwhile, has justified weak and compromised oversight
of security -related spending and excessive secrecy,” the report said.
It said most significant corruption opportunities are those
exploited through inflating procurement contract values and creating “phantom”
defence contracts.
But the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in a reaction denied
allegations of corruption levelled against the Nigerian Military in the report.
Defence spokesman, Major General John Enenche reacting
during a press conference in Abuja yesterday said the sweeping allegations
against military officials in the TI report were false.
He said the present leadership of the Armed Forces of
Nigeria has done a lot to train, boost troop’s morale and procure vital
equipment through due process, for the Northeast operations against Boko Haram.
Chatham House’s Africa Programme also launched its
referenced report yesterday in Abuja in an event that attracted representation
from the diplomatic and consular corps as well as civil society, government and
business.
Report authors, Leena Koni Hoffman and Raj Navanit Patel led
the conversation on the why, how and what of the report.
Chatham house commissioned the study to diagnose what drives
corrupt behaviour in Nigeria, and the types of beliefs that support corrupt
practices.
The TI report said security contracts were used as a vehicle
for money laundering and facilitated via weak or corrupted Nigerian banks, with
illicit financial flows hidden in property in the UK, United States, South
Africa and Dubai.
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