The federal government of Nigeria has shed light on why it spent N1.15bn for the purchase of 10 SUVs for the Republic of Niger.
Minister of finance, budget, and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, told State House correspondents after the federal executive council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the move will help security on the borfer with Nigeria.
According to her, the move is to enable the country to safeguard its territory in the best interest of Nigeria’s security.
Saying it was not the first time Nigeria would be supporting her neighbours, the finance minister argued that the president had a responsibility to make such decisions in the best interests of the country.
She said, “Let me just say that, over time, Nigeria has had to support its neighbours, especially immediate neighbours, to enhance their capacity to secure their countries as it relates to us.
“This is not the first time that Nigeria has supported Niger, Cameroon or Chad, and the president makes an assessment as to what is required, based on the request of their president and such requests are approved and the interventions provided is to enhance their capacity to protect their own territory as it relates to security also to Nigeria.”
An online medium had published a report yesterday that President Buhari approved N1.15bn to purchase 10 Toyota Land Cruiser V8 vehicles for the Nigerien government.
The record, which was sourced from the ‘appropriations’ page of the Ministry’s website, showed that in July 2022, N1,145,000,000 was approved for payment to Kaura Motors Nigeria Limited to supply the SUVs.
