The Federal Government on Wednesday has justified the donation of 1.145 billion naira to the Republic of Niger to aid in their acquisition of some operational vehicles. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, confirmed the purchase, while fielding questions from reporters, shortly after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. This followed the outrage generated by the measure exposed by a popular social media influencer, David Hundeyin, on Wednesday.
Ahmed argued that even though Nigerians have the right to question the rationale for such donation, President Muhammadu Buhari who approved the purchase also has the right to make his own assessment on situations and act accordingly. The document released by the media influencer showed that the president approved the release of the fund on February 22, this year.
But justifying the funds, the minister noted that the president reserved the right to take decisions in the interest of Nigeria, insisting that this was not the first time the country is providing such interventions to her neighbours. According to her, Nigeria has a policy of assisting its neighbours to strengthen capacity to deal with insecurity.
