The Nigerian Army has said that the Federal Government has yet to release the $1 billion it earmarked to prosecute the Boko Haram counterinsurgency operation in the North-East.
Army spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Kukasheka Usman disclosed this over the weekend in response to questions on Weekend File, a news programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
Recall that the National Economic Council headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account to fight Boko Haram.
He said, “People should understand also that this is a democratic system in which procurement and of course funding of defence-related issues takes such a long time.
“Take for instance the issue of the $1 billion approved recently by Mr. President, up till now the process is ongoing.
“The Ministry of Defence is still pursuing the matter to the point that when it is done, the armed forces will definitely get more equipment, more arms and ammunition.”
While expressing sadness over the loss of some military personnel in coordinated attacks by Boko Haram, Usman however frowned on alleged inflation of casualty figures.
The senior army officer identified the attack on the 157 Task Force Battalion in Melete, Guzamala Local Government Area, Borno State on November 18 as one of such incidents.
He said that army authorities would enforce take legal action to curtail the activities of the purveyors of such “fake news”.
Usman said, “So sad and unfortunate that our troops came under enemy attack on the 18th of last month and we suffered causality as we mentioned. Sadly, we lost 23 gallant officers and men and of course some of them sustained injuries.
“In respect of the effort, we are trying as much as possible to make sure that first and foremost we give timely and accurate information on all our activities and operations bearing national security concern.
“And then secondly, we have gone a north further to identify where those fake news and fabricated stories are coming from, and definitely our legal department is taking step to make sure that all those involved would be taken to court.”
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