Buratai Under Pressure Over Military Spending

Buratai Under Pressure Over Military Spending

From
left: Former Chief of Army Staff and Head of State, Gen. Abdlsalami
Abubabar; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Bueatai; and Gov. Yahaya
Bello of Kogi, during the burial of a former Chief of Army Staff,
Lt.-Gen. Salihu Ibrahim, in Kaduna on Sunday (16/12/18).<br
/>06689/16/12/18 Ibrahim Bashir/BJO/NAN

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has
been sent a joint Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Civil Society
Organisations (CSOs), asking him to provide information on the 2015,
2016 and 2017 budget implementation reports of the Nigerian Army.

According to the organisations, if the information is not provided
within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of the letter, they
would institute legal action under the Freedom of Information Act,
compelling the office of the COAS to comply.

According to details
released to the media yesterday, the CSOs, Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project (SERAP), Enough is Enough (EiE), and BudgIT,
requested “the amounts released (financial implications) and expended in
fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 for Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation
Safe Haven, Operation Python Dance, Operation Ruwan Wuta, Operation
Delta Safe, Operation Mesa, Operation Harbin Kunama, Operation Awatse,
Operation Tsera Teku and Operation Crocodile Smile.”

The request sent last week and signed by Bamisope Adeyanju (SERAP),
Seun Akinyemi of (EiE) and Atiku Samuel (BudgIT), noted: “Transparency
of the budget process and its implementation is an essential condition
to achieve good governance. The reports, if provided and published, will
shed light on military spending and put to rest once and for all the
perceived lack of transparency and accountability in the spending of
military budgets, which has been a subject of intense public debate and
concern.

“Several billions of naira allocated to the military to defend the
country and protect its people have neither contributed to improving the
ability of Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram and other armed groups
nor provided the much-needed security, especially for Nigerians in the
northeast of the country.”

It said: “The information being requested does not come within the
purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the
provisions of the FOI Act. The information requested, apart from not
being exempted from disclosure under the FOI Act, would serve the
national interest, public welfare, public interest and peace, human
rights, good governance, transparency and accountability.

“By virtue of Section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011,
we are entitled, as of right, to request or gain access to information,
including information on the 2015, 2016 and 2017 budget implementation
reports of the Nigerian Army and the amounts released (financial
implications) and expended in fiscal years 2015, 2016 and 2017 for the
various operations listed, which have yielded no tangible result.

“Also, by virtue of Section 4(a) of the FOI Act, when a person makes a
request for information from a public official, institution or agency,
the public official, institution or agency to whom the application is
directed is under a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant
with the information requested, except as otherwise provided by the Act,
within 7 days after the application is received.”

A soldier meanwhile was killed as troops repelled Boko Haram fighters on Friday.

This was disclosed in a statement yesterday by Deputy Director Army
Public Relations Col. Onyema Nwachukwu (Operation Lafiya Dole).

“Troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, located at Gudumbali in northern
Borno, on Friday, December 14, repelled an infiltration attempt by
suspected Boko Haram terrorists disguised as an humanitarian assistance
team.

“The terrorists took advantage of the ongoing distribution of relief
materials at Gudumbali and opened fire on troops’ location. This was
followed by rapid fire from other terrorists in gun trucks along
Gudumbali-Kukawa axis. The troops however fought gallantly and
outmaneuvered the attackers, inflicting heavy casualties on them.

“Unfortunately, a soldier paid the supreme price during the encounter
and one other was wounded in action, while a Cobra Armoured Personnel
Carrier (APC) and a truck belonging to the unit were damaged,” Nwachukwu
said.

In another development, the remains of the late former Chief of Army
Staff, Lt. Gen. Salihu Ibrahim, were laid to rest yesterday after
funeral prayers at Yahaya Road Juma’at Mosque, Kaduna.

The session, conducted by Sheik Khalid Isiyaku, was attended by
hundreds of mourners including former Head of State Abdulsalami
Abubakar. Others included the Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur
Buratai; Kaduna State Governor Nasiru El-Rufai; his Kogi counterpart,
Yahaya Bello; Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. Abdulrahaman Danbazzau; and
former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu.

While reading the funeral oration, Buratai described the late army
chief as an articulate and professional soldier with a good sense of
responsibility. “His death is a great loss to his family, the Nigerian
Army and the country at large,” he added.

Source:- Guardianng