The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno made this known while appearing before the House Ad Hoc Committee on the CBN’s Cashless Policy and to Extend the Timeframe of the Currency Swap in Abuja on Thursday.

The NSA who was represented by Rear Admiral Abubakar Mustapha stated that due to the “sensitivity of some of this information that will come out, bordering on security,” he would not want to divulge some details before the press.

Mustapha noted that he is a director in charge of an ONSA secretariat that conducts general security appraisal of elections and other security situations and exigencies in the office.

He also apologised to the committee “on behalf of my boss who is unavoidably absent.” He noted that Monguno was out of the country “on a very special meeting” and he was directed to represent the NSA.

Mustapha added, “But that being said, globally, military operations, even in the First World countries, such policies, if not properly thought out will affect some certain things where some of our soldiers are deployed to; in places where they cannot actually access digital means of paying for their daily subsistence, one of the main issues that the NSA has been talking about. It is important that this committee sits and articulate better ways of actually addressing these issues. He has directed a committee to write out his position to assist the (House) committee on its mandate.”

Majority Leader of the House and chairman of the committee, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, consequently asked that journalists and aides leave the Conference Room 301 venue of the meeting, while the closed-door meeting lasted about 20 minutes.

The committee invited the Director of Currency Operations, CBN, Ahmed Umar, over the revelations made by the Office of the NSA to the panel at its continued investigative hearing.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu; and the Managing Director, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Ahmed Halilu, who were to also appear before the committee on Thursday failed to show up.

Ado-Doguwa, who informed members that Ahmed and Halilu wrote the panel to seek rescheduling of their appearance, said they had been re-invited for 11am on Friday (today).

The committee had last week grilled the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, over the crisis caused by the redesign of some naira notes and the exchange of old naira notes with new ones by the populace.

The naira policy has attracted wide criticisms, especially due to scarcity of the new notes and its introduction close to the 2023 general election.

Since then, Yakubu had met with the NSA and Emefiele over the matter.

Emefiele and Yakubu had also met with the President Muhammadu Buhari , on the crisis.

Emerging from the meeting, Ado-Doguwa said, “We took in confidence some of the responses that he gave, which, of course, will be very useful to the committee and, definitely, will guide the committee when it comes to writing the report that we will lay on the floor of the House of Representatives.

“By and large, I think it is only fair to say, whatever the case may be, that the position of the committee has not changed, even with the interface we had with the NSA, that the policy is unpopular, that the policy was untimely, that the policy did not take the benefit of wider consultations from various sectors and agencies of the government that were relevant with the subject matter.

“Of course, we will continue to engage with them. Perhaps, we will call the Central Bank Governor once again to address this Committee based on other points and facts we have extracted from the NSA,” he noted.

Ado-Doguwa hinted that the committee would invite the NSA again if needed to clarify some of the issues of concern that his representative had yet to address.

He said, “This brings me to the fact that some of the agencies we invited, even though we have taken their apologies for not coming either yesterday or today, apparently because of the gaps in communication, that does not give it to them that we will take it lightly for any reason for any other person to fail to appear before this committee tomorrow.

“We have scheduled the Nigerian Printing and Minting Company. Of course, I’ve spoken with him (the MD) on the phone. The clerk of the committee has spoken with him, so we will expect him unfailingly tomorrow.

“We are also expecting the Federal Ministry of Finance because it is a relevant agency that is very much important and key to the subject matter. The Ministry of Finance, through the minister, I believe they coordinate and direct the fiscal policy of the country, and this is a matter that has direct implications on our fiscal policy as it relates to the economy and the cashless policy that is being contemplated for whatever reason.

The NSA  disclosed this when he spoke at the 14th Workshop of the League of Ulamas, Preachers, and Imams of Sahel countries in Abuja

Guardian quotes him as saying; “Terrorism and the rapid escalation of violent activities by militant Islamist groups in the Sahel since 2016 have been primarily driven by the Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS), which mainly operates in Mali and extends to the Niger Republic and Burkina Faso. It is bolstered by activities of groups such as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam Wal Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (GSIM), and ISGS, which have continued to pose an imminent threat to the stability of the region. In Nigeria, Boko-Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) dominate terrorist activities, especially in the North-Eastern part of the country. The situation in the Sahel has never been grimmer, extremist violence continues to spread; the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is growing, and food insecurity is affecting more people than ever before. There are several not entirely congruent working hypotheses underpinning foreign and regional government strategies”

The Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loot, Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective/Efficient Management and Utilisation is to hold an investigative hearing on Monday.

Chairman of the committee, Mr Adejoro Adeogun, had last week laid an interim report by the committee.

Among those to appear before the committee on Monday are the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd.); Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris; and the Auditor General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu.

Others are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Navy, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority; Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption; and commercial banks.

Also to appear before the lawmakers are the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria; Chairman of the disbanded Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property; Chairman of the disbanded Pension Reform Task Team; former Ministers of Justice; former National Security Advisers; former chairmen of EFCC; former chairmen of ICPC; former Inspectors General of Police; former Comptrollers General of Customs; former Commandants General of NSCDC.

The rests are Mr Ngozika Ihuoma, MD, Crincad & Cari Nigeria Limited; Mr Dipo Fatokun, CBN’s Director of Banking Services; Mr Abubakar Animasaun, EFCC’s Account Department; Mr Abdullahi Ibrahim, a member of staff at EFCC; Mr Mukhtar Bello, also of the EFCC; the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre; Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project; Human and Environmental Development Agenda; BudgIT; non-governmental organisations and Civil Society Organisations.

The NSA made the disclosure when Milland Dikio, interim coordinator of the programme paid President Muhammadu Buhari a visit in Abuja on Friday, October 9.  

He said “The predatory instincts of certain individuals came into the fore and the programme was turned upside down and as a result of this, as the administrator has just said, there was a lot of corruption, waste, mismanagement within this period. N712 billion was wasted, basically unaccounted for, and this is due to so many issues — corruption being at the fore.  Now, we realised that if the focus of the people who are supposed to drive this programme is to capsize the programme by allowing their own personal interest to come in, then we are all going to be in trouble because if the Niger Delta is in trouble, consequently, it will extend to the rest of the federation. Therefore, I had to take this step to advise Mr President that this waste cannot go on. This programme is not supposed to be an open-ended programme; there is no place on the surface of this earth where programmes that are supposed to be palliatory will continue forever, at the end of the day becoming a big problem and entanglement for the government. Therefore, we decided to take immediate action by bringing in someone who can take a deep look at these programmes, which resulted in it being flawed — a person with vast experience and we all know the experience of Colonel Dikio in this type of issue.”

Monguno disclosed this on Tuesday, August 4, after a security meeting at the statehouse. The NSA revealed that Buhari told the service chiefs that Nigerians have lost confidence in the security sector and he is determined to restore that confidence.

The NSA said “The president is angry over the declining security situation. At the last meeting, he mentioned it.  What he said today is virtually a reaffirmation of what he said the first time. Yes, Mr President said you are doing your best, as far as I’m concerned, but there’s still a lot more to be done. I’m more concerned about the promise we made to the larger Nigerian society and I am ordering an immediate re-engineering of the entire security apparatus. This is something that I believe will be done in a very short time, but I just want us to keep hope alive. I know how everybody feels, I know how Nigerians feel, definitely the president is not oblivious of the fact that securing the nation is a primary responsibility of government and I believe in his sincerity, but again, since he’s not an octopus, since he’s not a spirit, if he delegates to people, then the onus is on them to actually fulfil the legitimate expectations of the larger Nigerian society.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the gains when he visited the Seme Border on Monday, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning Clement Agba, National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service Muhammed Babandede

He said “There has been an enhanced production and milling of Nigerian rice. Patronage of Nigerian rice has also increased and farmers are expanding their farms as well as engaging more hands. ‘It is important to note that 95 percent of illicit drugs and weapons that are being used for acts of terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria today come in through our porous borders. However, since this partial closure, these acts have been drastically reduced. Our conclusion is that the arms and ammunition these terrorists and criminal elements were using no longer gain access into the country. In addition, the importation of the drugs which affect the well-being of Nigerians have equally been reduced. As we speak, we have ships loaded with rice waiting to discharge (in Benin) and the target market is Nigeria (for Christmas). We have (MV Africana Jacana with 40,000 metric tons of rice, MV Zilos with 20,000 mts and MV Sam Jarguar with 45,000 MTS and others. Discussions on doing legitimate trade between Nigeria on one hand and Benin and Niger on the other, started in 2005. The discussions have led to MOUs in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, all designed to facilitating free movement of goods manufactured in their respective countries and work out the modalities through the Ministers of Trade of both countries for the realization of this objectives. It worth noting that there has never been legitimate transit trade between Nigeria and the two countries (Benin and Niger) For clarity, the ECOWAS protocol on transit demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country. Unfortunately, experience has shown that our neighbours do not comply with this protocol. Rather, they break the seals of containers at their ports and trans-load goods destined for Nigeria from the original container to trucks. In most cases five containers loaded onto one truck and duty paid as one truck. This improper trans-loading of transit goods makes it impossible to properly examine such goods, resulting in importation of illicit goods, including arms and ammunition, without being detected. Because goods are not examined, mis-classification and resultant loss of revenue become the ultimate consequence of this illegitimate transit trade”