How corruption in Defence escalates insecurity ---- CISLAC, TI

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and the Transparency International, TI, have detailed how perversive corruption endemic in Nigeria's defense ministry escalates insecurity in the country.

In a regional briefing on the Nigeria's Defence sector persistent corruption risk amidst escalating security threats, the Executive Director of CISLAC/Transparency International Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani said that Nigeria’s defence and security sector is plagued with systemic corruption, a major hindrance to the effective provision of defence in a country facing serious security challenges.

Represented in the Enugu briefing, on Thursday, by the Programmes Manager of CISLAC, Jimoh Abubakar, the group said that the policy brief highlights findings from the 2020 Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI) that are pertinent for a path to enhanced institutional resilience to corruption in Nigeria’s defence governance.

In the brief, CISLAC insisted that corruption enmeshes the ever-increasing defence sector expenditure and procurement activities with little oversight and transparency mechanisms.

They suggested that to remedy the anomaly, Nigeria’s defence institutions should prioritise transparency and access to information with a focus on defence budgets and disaggregated expenditures.

CISLAC also noted that strengthening accountability and civilian oversight will be critical to building and sustaining effective institutional resilience in the country’s defence sector.

It stated that the failure of state security forces to protect local populations from terrorist violence has contributed to the proliferation of self-defence militias and the militarisation of local communities.

"Studies have identified corruption as an issue affecting Nigerian public finances, business investment, and standard of living. The decades-long struggle with systemic corruption places Nigeria at 145th place out of 180 countries in the 2023 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI), with minimal score changes over the lifetime of the index.

"There are also reports of soldier desertion and allegations of corruption in the supply of armaments and safety gear, placing military personnel in danger whilst on the front lines.

"Much of the concern over corruption in the Nigerian armed forces stems from its sizeable but highly opaque military expenditure. From 2016 to 2022, Nigeria spent a total of over US$19.9 billion on security alone. 

"The military budget was increased from US$2.4 billion in 2020 to a massive US$4.5 billion in 2021, slightly decreasing to US$3.2 billion in 2023. Despite the little increase in military success on the front line, Nigeria is the largest arms importer in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 16% of regional imports between 2019 and 2023. 

"In its 2022 investigation, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) revealed that about US$15 billion has been squandered through fraudulent arms procurement deals in the last 20 years," CISLAC detailed in it's report.