By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Contrary to media report that the Federal Government of Nigeria has made a donation of N1.2bn to Niger Republic in its bid to increase the tempo of the fight against insurgency within the neighbouring countries, President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum has said his country has not received such donation.
According to Bazoum, only the Maradi region of his country received hilux vans from Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle. Zamfara is said to rely heavily on the support of security forces of neighbouring countries for protection against terrorist attacks.
Niger’s Minister of Defence, Alkassoum Indatou who spoke on behalf of the country’s President, contradicted the claim by Nigerian Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed who recently claimed that President Buhari had approved the said sum for Niger Republic.
The Nigerien Government insists that the claim by the Federal Government of Nigeria is untrue despite the efforts of its troop to protect Nigerians from terror attacks from Boko Haram and Al-shabab militants.
The Defence Minister of Niger pointed out that Governor Matawalle gave the Maradi region Hilux vans, not the Buhari regime as claimed by Nigeria’s Finance Minister.
“The state of Zamfara which has given five vehicles to the Maradi region, four of which have already been received, it is not the federal government as the Minister of Finance of Nigeria Zainab Ahmed declared,” said a translation of the French statement of a top Nigerien official privy to the issues.
“The populations of Zamfara who are on the border with Niger call more on the Nigerien soldiers who respond to the minute than even those of their own country,” he added.
In February, the Buhari regime claimed it contracted Kaura Motors Nigeria Limited, with Fidelity Bank account 4010638472, to purchase 10 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles for the Niger Republic for N1.2 billion.
The news of the Federal Government’s intervention has attracted widespread condemnation among Nigerians who believe their country needs the financial intervention more than the neighbouring Niger.
They cited strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as one among the major reason the purported intervention in Niger was not necessary.
ASUU, the umbrella body of University lecturers have been on strike for the past five months over demands bordering on the implementation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government on funding of Universities, disagreement of payment platform between UTAS and IPPIS that will strengthen the independence among other issues.
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