Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa has alleged that Correctional Centres officers help Boko Haram members move money around.
Musa said the prison warders also help Boko Haram members carry out some of their criminal activities.
He made this allegation during the sectoral debate with Service Chiefs organized by the House of Representatives in Abuja on Tuesday.
Musa said during debriefing, some Boko Haram members in the North-East, confessed to how from the prisons, they could plan operations and pass funds to the field through the help of some prison warders.
“They passed funds across and we asked how? They told us they use some of the warders.
“We are not saying all of them are bad, but they use some of the warders’ accounts to transfer money and the deal is anybody whose account it is transferred, shared it 50-50. Those are the challenges”, Musa alleges.
The Army Chief also lamented that the high dollar rate had hampered the purchase of relevant equipment needed to fight insecurity.
According to him, all the items procured are bought with foreign currency.
“We don’t produce what we need in Nigeria and if you do not produce what you need, that means you are at the beck and call of the people that produce these items.
“For example, during the last regime, about $1 billion was set aside for defence procurement. Out of that amount, over $600 million was for the procurement of aircraft. So, the whole money had gone.
“So many times when people see that funds are being released to the armed forces, they think it is so much but by the time you convert them to dollars, you do not get much.
“One precision missile for our drone costs $5,000. So imagine how many we would be able to use and how many we can procure. So, those are the challenges”, Musa said