Arms Procurement “I was quoted out of context – Monguno
Says Weapons Procurement Process Still Active
Arms Procurement “I was quoted out of context – Monguno
The National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, has stated he was quoted out of context on issues relating to funds meant for arms procurement under the Former Service Chiefs of the country.
According to a statement that was issued by the Office of the NSA, information dished out by some media reports regarding Armed Forces equipment was not true and did not come from the NSA.
The statement reports that attention of the NSA’s office was drawn to the media reports where he was wrongly quoted from his interview with the Hausa service of BBC.
He said: “We would like to State that the NSA was quoted out of context as he did not categorically say that funds meant for arms procurement were missing under the Former Service Chiefs as reported or transcribed by some media outlets from the BBC interview”.
“During the interview, the National Security Adviser only reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to deal decisively with insecurity and stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued commitment to provide all necessary support to the Armed Forces, including the provision of arms and equipment,” the NSA stated.
He further explained that: “In the interview the National Security Adviser clearly informed the BBC reporter that Mr President has provided enormous resources for arms procurement, but the orders were either inadequate or yet to be delivered and that did not imply that the funds were misappropriated under the former Service Chiefs”.
According to the statement, The NSA also informed the reporter that, the President is following up on the procurement process. He stated that the process of contracts relating to military equipment in most cases involves manufacturing and that this was due to diligence and tedious negotiations that may change delivery dates.
“As the National Security Adviser conveyed during the Aso Villa Media Briefing, questions relating to Defence procurement should be channelled to the Ministry of Defence.
All Security and Intelligence agencies are working together to bring an end to insecurity with the full support of Mr. President and Stakeholders including the media and civil society as part of a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach to address our security challenges,” Monguno assured.
Arms Procurement “I was quoted out of context – Monguno
