The federal government says it has spent N197.84 billion to fight terrorism from 2019 till date.
It told the Senate Committee on Army that all the monies appropriated for the war against terrorism were duly released.
The Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, in the finance ministry, Aliyu Shinkafi, told the committee that the funds were released to the military authorities.
He said N75 billion was appropriated and released in 2019, while N74.99 billion was released out of N75 billion appropriated in 2020.
He said in the current year, N100 billion was appropriated and that N19.4 billion was released for the first quarter.
The permanent secretary also stated that the ministry released N19.95 billion on Wednesday for the second quarter.
However, the committee chairman, Senator Aliyu Ndume informed the ministry’s representatives that the military authorities complained of a shortfall of N50 billion in the releases.
The committee therefore summoned the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze; and the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru to appear before it on Tuesday to explain the descripances in the releases.
