By Ismail Auwal
Senate Committee on Defence has discovered the addition of N10.85 billion in the 2023 budget proposal of the Ministry of Defence.
The N10.85 billion extra, as highlighted by the committee’s Vice Chairman, Senator Itsifanus Gyang (PDP Plateau North), is divided into N8.6 billion for military hardware/equipment procurement and N2.25 billion for Safe School Initiatives.
“The two items, when critically viewed, were not supposed to be in the ministry’s budget since hardware procurements are done by the Army, Navy and Air Force; and the Safe School Initiative, by the Federal Ministry of Education.
“These, to us, are duplications of budgetary votes which require explanations from you,” he said.
In response, Magashi requested permission from the committee for the permanent secretary of the ministry, Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, to respond.
The addition, according to Kana, were inserted into the ministry’s budget by the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
“We didn’t initiate it. We didn’t include it. From our consultations, we found out that it’s from the finance ministry.
“We found out that these projects have been with the Ministry of Education and they now realised that they should actually be under the Ministry of Defence because they’re products of insurgency and therefore the defence ministry is better positioned to do the job compared to the education ministry. I don’t think there’s any duplication,” he said.
