‘Air Force got no money for barracks repairs in 2012’

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) didn’t get funds for barracks repairs in 2012, Air force spokesperson Air Commodore Yusuf Anas said yesterday.

This was in reaction to a story in the Daily Trust on Monday, which said the 2012 Federal budget allocated N2.7bn and N341m to the Air force for barracks repairs and construction.

“In the story, you stated that the NAF spent N2.7 billion on barracks rehabilitation. While we would ordinarily not respond to the story, it became however imperative that we draw your attention so that your teeming readers and the general public are not misled into believing the story to be true. It is necessary to state that the NAF neither received nor spent such money on barracks rehabilitation.

“However, the NAF within the resources allocated to it by government has continuously provided new accommodation and renovated existing ones for its personnel. Indeed, a visit to any of our barracks spread around the country will confirm this assertion. Visitors to any of NAF barracks would attest to the fact that our barracks are adequately maintained and positively used as reference point of excellence. We want your team of reporters to visit our barracks and see for themselves before making generalized conclusion,” the statement said.

The reference to the funds allocation in the Daily Trust story was based on the approved federal government 2012 budget details obtained from Federal Ministry of Finance website last year.