Outrageous: Revealed, how much electricity debts Nigerian army owes

– The Nigerian army owes over N9 billion in electricity debts

– Monsur Dan-Ali, the defence minister, has disclosed how the funds allocated to the military will be spent

– Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, protested against the deduction of over N300m from the army’s allocation 

Reports suggests that the Nigerian military owes well over N9 billion in electricity debts.

The minister of defence, Monsur Dan-Ali, informed the House of Representatives committee on defence that a debt of about N9.4 billion has been accumulated over the years due to the failure of the services to pay their electricity bills.

Monsur-Dan-Ali, minister of defence.

The Punch reports that the electricity debts of the army, navy and air force were contained in the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Defence, which Dan-Ali presented to the House in Abuja.

The document also included the ministry’s judgement debts of N11.8bn.

On the electricity bills, the document stated: “PHCN (defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria) outstanding debt. This is an accumulated debt for the services arising from non-payment of their electricity bills.

“The amount involved is N9.4bn.”

READ ALSO: 2016 Budget: FG makes U-turn, admits budget was filled with errors

Out of the N16bn proposed as capital vote for 2016, the sum of N11.8bn was earmarked for “judgement debts.”

The budget states that the balance will be used to fund 31 projects for the military this year.

Another N2.7bn was proposed in favour of the closure of Giwa barracks in Lagos.

The document also revealed that: “N2.7bn is proposed in the 2016 budget to settle the claim arising from court injunctions for forceful closure of 269 shops at Giwa Barracks, Lagos, in 2007.”

In the same vein, the chief of army staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai protested at a separate session with the House committee on the army, at the deduction of over N300m from the army’s allocation quarterly to offset its share of the accumulated electricity debts.

He complained that the Ministry of Finance made the deductions at source from the army’s allocation, saying the development had been affecting the army.

“We are paying over N300m quarterly.

“The ministry of finance should stop the deduction,” Buratai said.

However, members of the committee were more concerned about the welfare and safety of soldiers deployed in the northeast to fight Boko Haram.

The chairman of the committee, Rima Shawulu, said the ongoing controversy around the misapplication of the $2.1bn budgeted for arms procurement had exposed the weaknesses in the procurement processes of the federal government.

Shawulu called for a review of the processes to guard against abuses in the future.

“The welfare and the safety of these young men should be uppermost in our minds.

“We have toured the military barracks and formations in the country, what we saw there was appalling, to say the least,” he said.

He added: “We have to improve on their welfare and boost their morale.”

Buratai, however, blamed the decay in the barracks and other services on many years of neglect.

“Since I assumed office last year, I have started some projects in the barracks.

“Major renovations are going on and we want to sustain the tempo,” the army chief said.

Meanwhile, the federal government has finally admitted that there were errors in the 2016 budget. Following the revelation of several unjustifiable allocations in the 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari, the government has blamed the discrepancies on the adoption of the zero-based budgeting system.

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