Read The Audit Report That Sparked Probe Of Top Military Officers, Defense Contractors As More Revelations Come Up

More revelations are expected to surface in the Army, Navy, Ministry Of Defense and police following the ongoing probe into the $2.1 billion arms procurement fund as contained in an audit report exclusively obtained by Sahara Reporters on Friday, January 15.

The audit report was said to have detailed the huge fraud in the procurement of arms which sparked President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the role played by several retired and serving officers as well as civilian contractors.

The report showed that the audit committee started work at the end of August 2015, and looked at procurement of weapons and equipment for the period from 2007 to 2015.

A committee that was set up examined documents and information provided by different ministries, departments and agencies. It also evaluated information it gathered from organizations that provided funds in both local and foreign currencies to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Defense Headquarters, and the various arms of Nigeria’s military services.

The committee examined more than N643.8 billion in local currency contributions to defense expenditure, with the foreign currency component topping $2 billion. The audit committee disclosed that their collation of defense funds did not “include grants from State Governments and funds collected by the DSS [Department of State Services] and [the] police.”

The audit report states: “in spite of this huge financial intervention, there has not been significant improvement in the capacity and capability of the Armed Forces.”

​The committee, however, disclosed that it has covered the audit of procurement activities by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and ONSA, but hinted that those of the Ministry of Defense (MOD), DHQ, Nigerian Army (NA) and Nigerian Navy (NN) are still ongoing.

The audit committee stated in its report: “The procurement activities funded by ONSA were wide ranging and included acquisitions of platforms, weapons, ammunition and equipment. Most of the ONSA-funded contracts were awarded to Messrs Societe D’ Equipmente Internationaux (SEI) Nigeria Limited and E-Force Interservices Nigeria Limited.”

The audit report showed that between February 2014 and May 2015, SEI “handled 38 ONSA funded contracts. Twenty-eight of the contracts were for the NA while 10 were for the NAF. However, the Committee could only establish the cost of three of the NA contracts amounting to nine hundred and twenty-nine million, five hundred and thirty-five thousand US Dollars ($929,535,000.00). The total cost for the 10 NAF contracts was nine hundred and thirty million, five hundred thousand, six hundred and ninety US Dollars ($930,500,690.00). Thus, a total cost of one billion, eight hundred and sixty million, thirty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety US Dollars ($1,860,035,690.00) was expended by the ONSA to fund the NA and NAF contracts.”

There were several anomalies discovered by the audit committee and one of them is the absence of cost of defense items in the NAF letters awarding the contracts.

“Rather, the vendors’ invoices that were all issued on the same date (March, 19 2015) reflected such details. Additionally, some of the award letters contained misleading delivery dates that indicated fraudulent intention in the award process. The observed discrepancies are in clear contravention of extant procurement regulations,” it states.

According to the audit committee, its members are yet to physically inspect the purchased equipment; hence it “thus cannot confirm their delivery or serviceability status.” In particular, the committee “particularly noted the issue of procurement of two Mi-24 helicopters through SEI Nigeria Ltd that were deployed to the North East Operations in unserviceable condition which resulted in the unfortunate death of the late Group Captain U.N. Akpan and Master Warrant Officer Zabesan H.”

Among the contracts highlighted by the audit committee is that of the $520 million awarded by the ONSA to E-Force Nigeria Ltd in February 2014 for the supply of 12 combat helicopters, rocket launchers and the training of Special Forces.

The committee discovered that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), following the directives of ONSA, mobilized E-Force Nigeria Ltd with $146 million after the contracts were signed. Even so, the NAF “has emphatically denied knowledge of the procurement or delivery of the helicopters to the Service.”

The audit stated that the Nigerian Army “did not reflect the procurement of the rocket launchers in its submission to the Committee.”

The audit committee also emphasized the buying of four Alpha-Jets in July 2014, and revealed that the ONSA awarded a contract of more than $7 million to Messrs Abbatare Nigeria Ltd, Konet Limited and Air USA for the procurement of the jets, including weaponization, avionics upgrade and provision of spares for the NAF. But it finds out that the jets were bought on an “as is” basis through Mr. Uptal Nandy, a UK-based Indian veterinary doctor. “As is,” “where is” meant that the equipment would be supplied in its present condition “and the seller was not obliged to carry out any repairs or maintenance on the aircraft.”

The audit report further showed that the Nigerian Air Force personnel “confirmed that only two of the aircraft were ferried to Nigeria in April 2015 after cannibalization of engines from NAF fleet.” It disclosed that the remaining two Alpha-jets were “still in the USA awaiting repairs and clearance from the USA State Department.”

The reports states that: “The audit uncovered a series of suspicious transfers of funds through the CBN. The committee stated that, between September 17, 2012 and March 9, 2015, former National Security Adviser, retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and ONSA’s former Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. S.A. Salisu, ordered the CBN to transfer various sums of money totaling more than €9.9 million. The funds were transferred to “various accounts in Nigeria, Niger Republic and UK for unascertained purposes.”

 

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