Juliana Francis
The Civil society legislative advocacy centre (CISLAC) recently selected some journalists covering the security beat for an interactive session.
What dominated the discussion was the corruption in defence and security budgeting and how such practice continues to lead to massive death.
These deaths are not just of civilians, but also of soldiers confronting insurgents, separatist groups, bandits and other disgruntled groups making the nation a war zone.
The theme of the event was, “One-day media workshop on defence anti-corruption reportage, civic space and oversight.”
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Mr. Auwal Ibrahim Musa said: “This media workshop is designed to enhance our knowledge on probable areas within the defence and security sector budgetary process and expenditures, for effective investigative journalism. It will improve the capacity of participants to understand areas of possible corruption risk better and to flag same for evidence-based civilian oversight in other to minimize corrupt practices and to improve our defence and security architecture.”
While urging journalists to become more investigative in their reportage, Musa, said the journalist should all make sure that the protection of lives and property remains a priority for the government, as provided for in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
He further states journalists and Civil Society Organisations must not sit on the fence, while watching, “a corrupt few embezzle monies meant for the welfare of security personnel, procurement of arms and ammunition while the challenges of insecurity continue to threaten our very existence.”
He expressed sadness at the knowledge that many known and unknown Nigerians have been killed, maimed, kidnapped and robbed of their loved ones, property and source of livelihood. He notes that among the insecurity dogging the nation was the rampant activities of terrorists, who now attack, kidnap and then demand outrageous ransom. This, said Musa, had come to become the norm and the question usually after each attack, kidnapping and ransom payment is, “who will be the next victim?”
The activist further argues for the need to question the actions and in-actions of government, and to demand accountability for budgetary allocations meant for defence and security.
He said: “It is time that the quest for reform in our defence and security institutions transcend from mere words to an all-inclusive participation in the formulation and effective implementation of policies for the actualisation of the transformation that citizens desire in our defence and security sector.”
He opined that among the reform in the security sector is the wrong and prolonged “deployment of personnel in the battlefield, lack of transparency and accountability in fund management, procurement and project implementation, personnel recruitment process, personnel welfare, substandard kits and equipment, among others.”
The Manager, Open Government and Institutional Partnerships, BudgIT, Mr. Tolutope Agunloye, while speaking on, “Overview of The Defence and Security Budgets: Gap Analysis,” maintained security reporters needed to under the laws surrounding procurement and budgeting in order to be able to carry out an incisive investigation.
He also said all Nigerians, especially journalists should be involved in budgeting and contest some of the items in the budget before it could become law.
He said: “A budget is an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time. It is an estimate or projection. What we see in the budget is not what government will release. There’s room for adjustment. Government can borrow for a capital project, but not for payment of salaries.”
Delving into Defence Budget, Agunloye said a military budget or defense budget is the amount of financial resources dedicated or appropriated by a state or country to raising and maintaining armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes.
“Nigeria runs an envelope system of budgeting which requires MDAs to work within a budget ceiling. There is no formula for the determination of ceilings to the MDAs as this system of budgeting limits resource allocation and effective utilization.”
Suggesting possible areas to investigate, Agunloye said: “Capturing of recurrent expenditures as capital projects. For example, 2017 Ministry of Defence Budget has a budget of line item for PHCN OUTSTANDING DEBTS with (project code FMODM67375298) project amount of N2.4bn. Bogus Amount for Capital projects: Still using the 2017 budget, there is a line item for INSPECTION OF ACCOUNTS BOOK & PAC MATTERS for N95m, IMPLEMENTATION OF FOI for N20.7m and Budget Duplication; which is when projects line items are duplicated sometimes in the same MDA. For example, HIV/AIDS Prevention appeared twice in the defence HQ budget in 2017 budget with total sum of N60.05m.”
Enumerating possible to aid in investigating security budgets, Agunloye said investigative journalists should pay attention to Budget Implementation Reports, which show the budget performance for the quarter and are published by the Budget Office of the Federation.
He also urged to check the Open Treasury Portal, highlighting the disbursement of funds from the Accountant General to MDAs, Contractors.
He added: “Selecting projects that are tangible and most especially projects that are not in the cantonment or barracks. Also querying project line items that are not comprehensive.”
He advised that journalists should support the committees on defence on legislative oversight, and also “use FOI act to get access to information from the defence sector.”
Mr. Salaudeen Hashim, speaking on “Analysis of Government Defence Integrity Index: Establishing the Accountability Nexus,” opined that the problem of the Defence and Security Sector is essentially that of leadership.
He said that the media between January and September 2022, reported 8281 people were killed and among them, 176 were security personnel.
Hashim urged journalists to continue to, “raising awareness about the reality and potential for corruption in all military and security operations, awareness about existing accountability procedures and processes, awareness about good practice in defence corruption mitigation practices across the world, tracking and reporting on both defence corruption incidents and accountability and oversight responses, leveraging on platform and reach to facilitate improved defence integrity through strategic engagements with the military, security actors and citizens organisations.”
About The Author
