Abuja – The Minister of Defence, retired Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali, has dismissed a media report suggesting that he is interfering with the military’s counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
This is contained in a statement signed by the minister and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Dan-Ali said contrary to instance cited by the media, the ministry’s actions with regard to military operations in the North-East were in response to a presidential directive on the subject matter.
According to the minister, the Ministry of Defence, as a supervising ministry, has the responsibility to ensure that government’s directives and policies are strictly adhered to by the services.
Dan-Ali said the advisory committee set up by the ministry was not meant to indict anybody but based on a presidential directive meant to ensure accountability in management of allocated resources.
“It will be recalled that recently the Federal Ministry of Finance was also directed to conduct audit of all monetary transactions of the military with a view to strengthening government policies.
“It was also meant to ensure prudence and accountability of all financial allocations made to the services,’’ the minister said.
Dan-Ali said the media report that suggested that he was interfering with the functions of the service chiefs was unfortunate and a fabrication of fifth columnists.
He said the ministry of defence remained committed to supporting the various services to discharge their responsibilities smoothly and in line with the policy thrust of the present administration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ministry of defence recently set up a committee to look into the issue of soldiers fighting insurgency and frontline troops in other theatres across the country. (NAN)
