The House of Representatives Committee on Navy has resolved to scrutinise the process leading to the acquisition of foreign military platforms by the Nigerian Navy.
Chairman of the committee, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau), made this known while addressing newsmen after a meeting with the leadership of Nigerian Navy in Abuja on Monday.
While stating that the committee was not carried along in the process, Gagdi said that the navy failed to respond to letters demanding for documents to facilitate effective oversight of the security agency.
According to him, the lawmakers are not satisfied with the acquisition of foreign platforms without the knowledge of the committee.
“We came to the navy to ask questions on tax payers’ money; how money appropriated to the vavy is being spent.
“We came to ask questions on how the interventions by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is being spent by the navy.
“We also came to ask how the junior officers are being treated by the senior officers, including the famous case of Seaman Haruna Abbas; how he was suddenly dismissed.
“It is our responsibility, on behalf of the Nigerian people,vr to ask questions on these pertinent issues; we have asked them, but we are generally uncomfortable with them.
“So we have said that we are going to go on oversight visit, to perform a deep-rooted oversight to know how resources are being applied.
“We cannot say anything further until we have gone to see those projects and the platforms that are being built, then we can come back here, and have another interaction,” he said.
Gagdi said that the committee was dissatisfied with the navy over the manner it handled the disciplinary case of a personnel, Seaman Haruna Abbas, which led to his dismissal after six years in detention.
It was alleged that the officer, Abbas was held in detention for the period without trial over some disciplinary issues.
As a result, his wife reported the matter to a popular programme on Human Rights Radio/Television, thus then sparking a wide condemnation before the man was tried and subsequently dismissed from service by the naval authorities.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, told the committee that navy was facing several challenges.
Ogalla said that the challenges included, but not limited to, inadequate resources to effectively carry its operations.
He added that beyond its military responsibility, the navy also engage in policing the waterways, thus complementing the Nigeria Customs Service which with no deep-sea policing capacity. (NAN)