$15m arms fund” S’Africa, Nigeria seek framework to prevent recurrence

South Africa has said it would evolve a legal framework with Nigeria to ensure that the Federal Government did not suffer future embarrassment of having its fund for arms procurement seized again.

The South African Secretary for Defence and Military Veterans, Dr. Sam Gulube, said this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after the opening ceremony of the Nigeria-South Africa Defence Industry inaugural seminar on Monday in Abuja.

The South African Revenue Service had seized Nigeria’s $15 million meant for arms purchase at Lanseria Airport, north-west of Johannesburg, on September 5, 2014, but the money had yet to be released almost two years after.

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa had while on a three-day state visit to Nigeria in March, stated that  the money would be released after all the investigations were concluded.

But Gulube who led the South African delegation to the seminar, explained that the “issue had been settled,” adding that he would discuss the legal framework with his Nigerian counterpart to guard against future recurrence.