The
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has charged President
Muhammadu Buhari to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the spending
of defence and military budgets between 1999 and 2018 in order to promote
transparency and accountability in the sector.
SERAP said
the probe would ensure that the funds meant for military operation are spent
for that purpose and end the vulnerability and killings of Nigerian soldiers
such as the reported death of several Nigerian soldiers in the recent Metele
Boko Haram attack.
The
organization also urged President Buhari to refer to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) pursuant to article 13 of the Rome Statute, all allegations of
corruption in the spending of funds meant to purchase arms to empower Nigerian
soldiers to fight Boko Haram, including the “diversion and sharing of the over
$2 billion under the former government of President Goodluck Jonathan and
approved spending by your own government.”
In the
letter signed by SERAP’s Senior Legal Adviser, Bamisope Adeyanju, the
organization said: “We believe that referral of the cases to the ICC would
serve as a deterrent and ensure that Nigerians, particularly those in the
Northeast of the country whose human rights including to life, to human
dignity, and to an adequate standard of living have been violated are not
denied justice and effective remedies.”
The
organization urged Buhari to move swiftly to implement these recommendations as
a way of demonstrating his government’s commitment to ending the perception of
lack of transparency and accountability in the spending of military budgets in
the context of the conflict in the Northeast and to ensure the safety and
security of soldiers and all Nigerians in that part of the country.
The letter
reads in part: “The military’s inability to respond adequately to the Boko
Haram insurgency suggests among other things a mismanagement in the spending of
the country’s defence budgets. Establishing a commission of inquiry to
investigate how defence and military budgets have been spent since 29 May 1999
would help Nigerians to know if the funds meant to defend the country and for
purchase of arms to empower Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram have been
transparently and accountably spent.
“The
proposed commission should be led by a retired justice of the Court of Appeal
or the Supreme Court of Nigeria. The activities of the commission must be open
to the public and all those who have been responsible for the spending of the
country’s defence and military budgets should be summoned to give a public
account of how the money was spent.
“Testimonies
should be taken in a way that ensures that specific military operations are not
disclosed and national security not compromised. The commission should make
recommendations including on the prosecution of those found to have mismanaged
and/or stolen public funds meant to fight Boko Haram.
“SERAP is
concerned that many cases of those alleged to have diverted and shared funds
meant to purchase arms to empower Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram have
stalled. Given the continuing delay in the prosecution of such cases, and the
need to send a strong message that corruption in the spending of funds meant to
fight Boko Haram insurgents will not be tolerated, we urge you to immediately
refer all such cases for investigation and prosecution by the ICC.
“Opacity and
deficiencies in the way arms purchases are decided and controlled if not
urgently addressed would continue to expose our soldiers to risk of attacks and
killings; displace people and destroy their means of livelihoods and render
them homeless, thereby undermining human rights, including the right to life,
right to personal security, right to education and right to livelihood.
“SERAP notes
that in 2014 about N340billion (US$1.7billion) was allocated to the military.
Also, a number of offices had budgets allocated to them in relation to the Boko
Haram conflict. The military received the largest funds in the federal budget
in 2014. In October 2014, the National Assembly approved a request to borrow
US$1billion as an additional amount for purchase of military equipment. In
2015, about N375billion (US$1.8billion) was allocated to the military in the
federal budget.
“The same
year, an interim report of the presidential investigations committee on arms
procurement under the former president Goodluck Jonathan administration
revealed an extra-budgetary spending to the tune of N643.8 billion and an
additional spending of about $2.1 billion under the Goodluck Jonathan
administration.”
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