Nigeria seeks South Africa’s cooperation to build military complex

Army begins forensic audit of formations in N’East, other operations
Nigeria is seeking the support of South Africa to build a national industrial military complex, even as both countries are working to prevent illegal defence transactions.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Danladi Sheni, who revealed this yesterday at the opening of the Nigeria-South Africa Defence Industry Inaugural Seminar (NIGSA 2016), said enhanced military cooperation based on certain legal frameworks could be achieved after the seminar.

Sheni said, “We are looking at the whole gamut of our military cooperation, at the end of it all Nigeria and SA will have a mutually beneficial defence relationship. We also want to see how the SA military establishment will assist us in establishing our own industrial military complex.”

According to the top civil servant, besides the military equipment and training that Nigeria stands to benefit, the military industrial complex would create jobs, boost industrialization and on the overall would contribute to the economic enhancement of the country.

Responding, South African Secretary for Defence Sam Gulube said the threats being faced today in Africa and the entire global community require decisive action and cooperation among nations, especially in defence, which is critical.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Army yesterday said it was carrying out a comprehensive forensic audit of all its formations, the operations in the Northeast and other parts of the country.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. General Yusuf Buratai, who made this known yesterday in Abuja when he received the principal partner of a law firm, St. Francis Xavier Solicitors in his office, said that the Army under his leadership would not tolerate any form of corruption as he has always emphasized the need for basic audit of army accounts.

The Guardian recalls that the law firm led by Ugochukwu Osuagwu is the firm and lawyer that got the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to disclose the content of Buratai’s asset declaration form in the wake of the Dubai property saga.

Buratai said, “The military police is presently carrying out a forensic audit of every formation in the Nigerian Army and in particular our operations in the North East. We are looking into the details of how funds are utilized in all our operations especially in the northeast in order to ensure that we justify what has been given to the Army.”

In his remarks, Osuagwu said his quest for the truth about the Buratai’s Dubai property saga was borne out of his quest for the truth, saying the revelation from the CCB document on the property owned by the Army chief should end the controversy surrounding the matter.

“Being here is part of my civic duty to contribute in resolving national apprehension; it is unnecessary controversy that just came up recently. When this issue came up I felt there was a need for the central body, which is the Code of Conduct Bureau to put an end to this matter,” the lawyer said.