ANUJA, Nigeria — President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered criminal investigations into billions of dollars of suspicious defense contracts identified by a government-appointed committee examining weapons deals.
In an interim report, the committee said it discovered total “extra budgetary interventions” of 644 billion naira ($3.2 billion) in local currency and $2.2 billion in foreign funds, Femi Adesina, a spokesman in Buhari’s office, said in an e-mail Tuesday. Departments under examination included the Office of the National Security Adviser and the defense headquarters, he said.
“It was observed that in spite of this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support defense procurement,” Adesina said.
The committee’s findings include a case in which spending in foreign currency was more than double a $1 billion loan approved by the National Assembly to fight an Islamist insurgency and that funds were paid out for jets, helicopters, bombs and ammunition that the air force never received.
