The Nigerian Senate has accused President Muhammmadu Buhari’s aide Brig-Gen. Paul Boro (rtd) of wasting N48bn of national money since he resumed office in July 2015.
This Day reports that the Senate committee on the Niger Delta claimed that Boro has spent N157.2 million on armoured cars.
The lawmakers, who asked not to be named, were especially anxious over the huge sums of money supposed to have been expended on the training of ex-militants between November and December last year.
The senator, who is a member of the Senate committee on Niger Delta, said: “The president claims to be fighting corruption while his aides are already swimming in corruption. Can you imagine a special adviser using a bullet proof Lexus car worth N55 million as an official car at a time the president is trying to stop us from buying our own official cars worth about N5 million each? So what happened to the monetisation policy of the federal government?”
The senator was especially angered that at a time the president had criticized the lawmakers for their proposal to buy official cars for senators and members of the House of Representatives, the Amnesty Office coordinator, who is just an appointee of Buhari, had since acquired as his official car an armoured Lexus LX 570 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) with communications equipment for VIP movement.
They defined most of the contracts awarded by Boro as “mostly nebulous or frivolous.”
Another senator, who did not want to be named, added: “We expected him to restructure the budget he inherited from his predecessor at the Amnesty Office to fit into current economic realities and in line with the anti-corruption crusade of President Buhari. Unfortunately Boro is just spending recklessly.”
Buhari, during his first presidential media chat, wondered that the National Assembly planned to buy cars worth over N47bn, in addition to taking car loans and generous transport allowances.