Army sets up panel to probe arms purchase

Dissatisfied with the inventory of army weaponry in stock, and what should have been available given claims by his predecessor, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has constituted an eight-man panel to probe into the purchase of arms for the service.
The move has created tension in some quarters of the service, especially amongst loyalists and former aides of past Chiefs of Army Staff between 2010 to May 20, 2015.
It was gathered, that the army boss decided on the probe to ascertain how billions of dollars were spent on arms purchase and logistics during his predecessors’ tenure, given the shortage of army weaponry needed to combat the Boko Haram menace and other security challenges.
The panel headed by a Brigadier General with four Colonels and three Lieutenant Colonels as members will investigate all armament equipment most of which were denominated in dollars, including armoured tanks, artillery weaponry and other logistics bought by the Nigerian Army from 2010 to 2015.
The panel is expected to go round all the army’s armament depots across the country, take inventory of specific arms, compare types and quality of arms with actual recommendation, approval and amount of money released for the purchase as well as what was bought.
In doing this, the panel is to find out the names of the contractors who executed the jobs and supplied the equipment and at what cost. The panel will also ascertain why some of the arms purchase contracts whose monies have been collected were not done and at what level those implementing contracts have reached.
According to sources there is no link between the probe being carried out by the Chief of Army Staff and the general probe ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari whose committee is sitting at the office of the National Security Adviser.
It was gathered that many of the troops’ weapons failed to respond in the frontline; armoured tanks broke down while many could not shoot. Aside this, many logistics equipment deployed refused or failed to work in very critical periods where soldiers were face-to-face with armed terrorists.

Read also: 5 die in B’Haram ambush for Chief Of Army Staff

In some cases, there are documentation showing that some of the arms were purchased and have been taken to certain locations but these arms are nowhere to be found and nobody could render account.
The panel is expected to complete its assignment and submit its report to the Chief of Army Staff by November.
Meanwhile, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, at the weekend said the Nigerian Navy paid over N1billion as fine for misconduct by its personnel in the past four years.
The CNS while addressing Naval personnel in Calabar, warned them to respect members of the public and to avoid causing the force unnecessary expenditures.
He warned Ratings to be very careful in the discharge of their duties, saying there were pending cases against them at the courts with attendant fines.
He advised the personnel to always report misconduct by members of the public to the appropriate authorities.

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