The military owes accumulated electricity debts   of N9.4bn, The PUNCH learnt on Wednesday.

The Minister of Defence, Monsur Dan-Ali, informed the House of Representatives Committee on Defence that the debts accumulated over the years due to the failure of the services to pay their electricity bills.

Electricity debts of the Army, Navy and Air Force were captured in the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Defence, which Dan-Ali presented to the House in Abuja.

The document, which The PUNCH obtained on Wednesday, also included the ministry’s judgment debts of N11.8bn.


 
On the electricity bills, the document stated, “PHCN (defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria) outstanding debt. This is an accumulated debt for the services arising from non-payment of their electricity bills.

“The amount involved is N9.4bn.”

Out of the N16bn proposed as capital vote for 2016, the sum of N11.8bn was earmarked for “judgement debts.”

The budget states that the balance will be used to fund 31 projects for the military this year.

Another N2.7bn was proposed in favour of the closure of Giwa Barracks in Lagos.

“N2.7bn is proposed in the 2016 budget to settle the claim arising from court injunctions for forceful closure of 269 shops at Giwa Barracks, Lagos, in 2007,” the document added.

Meanwhile, at a separate session with the House Committee on Army, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, protested against the deduction of over N300m from the army’s allocation quarterly to offset its share of the accumulated electricity debts.

He complained that the Ministry of Finance made the deductions at source from the army’s allocation, saying the development had been affecting the army.

“We are paying over N300m quarterly.

“The ministry of finance should stop the deduction,” the army chief said.

But members of the committee were more concerned about the welfare and safety of soldiers deployed in the North-East to fight Boko Haram.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Rima Shawulu, said the ongoing controversy around the misapplication of the $2.1bn budgeted for arms procurement had exposed the weaknesses in the procurement processes of the Federal Government.

Shawulu called for a review of the processes to guard against abuses in the future.

He said, “The welfare and the safety of these young men should be uppermost in our minds.

“We have toured the military barracks and formations in the country, what we saw there was appalling, to say the least.”

“We have to improve on their welfare and boost their morale,” he added.

However, Buratai blamed the decay in the barracks and other services on many years of neglect.

The COAS said, “Since I assumed office last year, I have started some projects in the barracks.

“Major renovations are going on and we want to sustain the tempo.”