Investigative Committee To Probe Nigerian Defence Purchases

Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said that legislation, huge finance, and confidence in the electoral system were required before Diaspora voting can commence.

Last month Buhari appointed a former Exxon executive to head the NNPC with a brief to root out corruption at the state-oil firm.

In his contribution to the discourse, a political analyst and columnist with the Punch Newspaper, Uche Egwe, said corruption mutates and that by now, most corrupt Nigerians are going underground and hiding their loots because of the fear of Mr President, to the extent that some of these same names may come up for appointments in the near future.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the investigative committee’s mandate is to identify irregularities and make recommendations for streamlining the procurement process in the armed forces.

Crude-for-products swaps became controversial after several Nigerian officials raised questions about their transparency, including the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), an EITI affiliate, and former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi.

Accordingly, the National Security Adviser has constituted the Investigative Committee as follows: AVM J.O.N. Ode (rtd.) – President; R/Adm J.A. Aikhomu (rtd.), R/Adm E. Ogbor (rtd.), Brig Gen L. Adekagun (rtd.), Brig Gen M. Aminu-Kano (rtd.), and Brig Gen N. Rimtip (rtd.) as members.

“This is because we have embarked on the building of a bold new Nigeria and we need all hands on deck”.

Speaking at the event, Bishop Gbonigi appealed that the President should ensure that ‎”no section of the country is marginalized in appointments and sighting of development projects”.

The proposal to merge some ministries and parastatals by President Muhammadu Buhari to reduce the cost of governance is supported by most Nigerians, a recent polling has revealed. No section of the country should be over patronized at the expense of others.

“The President said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Nigerian Ports Authority and other MDAs which previously relied on the laws establishing them to retain all or part of revenues collected by them, did so illegally and must now comply with the Nigerian Constitution by paying all revenues to the Federation Account”, Shehu stated. The south is not subservient to the North and the situation in which only the deputies are zoned to the south is not acceptable. Ikechukwu Madubuike, affirmed that the ongoing anti-graft war of President Buhari must be holistic and not selective.