PROSECUTING ARMS PROCUREMENT FRAUD IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper argues that without appropriate legislation and regulatory oversight tailored to the features of arms procurement the prosecution of arms procurement fraud and related money laundering in Nigeria will continually end in a legal impasse. A sizeable portion of public expenditure is committed to arms procurement to protect democratic institutions in both developed and developing countries. Unfortunately, arms procurement fraud constitutes the greatest corruption in public procurement, weaking public institutions and occasioning loss of lives. In Nigeria, the politics of arms procurement, lax legislative oversight and the defence procurement exemption under the Public Procurement Act of 2007 enabled the “Dasukigate” scandal – the fraudulent diversion and laundering of over US$2.1 Billion arms procurement funds by the Office of the National Security Adviser. This problem underscores the necessity for arms procurement to be subjected to a democratic oversight that acknowledges its sensitivity and balances the requirements of transparency with security. Using doctrinal and comparative interrogations of primary and academic sources, the paper finds the criminal prosecutions to recover money laundered through arms procurement fraud to be highly challenging in Nigeria. The paper therefore suggests that Nigeria adopts appropriate legal provisions, institutional reforms and regulatory oversight to forestall arms procurement fraud and corruption.