SERAP Wants Buhari To Probe Military Spending Amidst Killing Of Nigerian Soldiers By Boko Haram

The Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) on Sunday  appealed to  President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently establish a commission of inquiry to probe the spending of defence and military budgets between 1999 and 2018.

In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, SERAP says the investigation will be aimed at  promoting  transparency and accountability in the military.

SERAP said the probe would ensure that funds meant for military operations are spent for that purpose and end the vulnerability and killings of soldiers.

It cited the reported killing of many Nigerian soldiers in the recent Boko Haram attack in Metele village of Borno state, urging the President to refer all allegations of corruption in the spending of funds meant to purchase arms for Nigerian soldiers to the Internal Criminal Court.

The  letter dated November 23, 2018, SERAP’s Legal Adviser, Bamisope Adeyanju, said: “several billions of naira allocated to the military to defend the country 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 north-east of the country.”

The group alleged that the army’s inability to respond adequately to the Boko Haram insurgency suggests a mismanagement in the spending of the country’s defence budgets.