TheCable

Christopher Musa, chief of defence staff (CDS), says Boko Haram suspects plan operations and move funds from behind bars.

Musa spoke on Tuesday when he appeared before the house of representatives committee of the whole to discuss Nigeria’s security challenges.

The general alleged that some prison warders help these suspects move funds through their bank accounts.

“In the north-east, when we were debriefing some of the arrested Boko Haram, they were able to tell us how, from the prison, they could plan operations out in the field,” he said.

“They pass funds across.

“They use some of the warders there. We are not saying all of them are corrupt. They use their accounts and the deal is that anyone whose account is used, they share it 50/50.”

The defence chief said security is the business of all Nigerians, and the responsibility of keeping the country safe should not be left to the security agencies alone.

“We can never be everywhere. So we need educational sensitisation programmes for all Nigerians to understand that security is everybody’s responsibility,” Musa added.

“What you see, you talk about it. You don’t just keep quiet and say that this is for the police or the army. Everybody has a role.

“We need to have a system where we can train from schools, from primary school, where Nigerians can be made to understand that they need to take ownership of security.

“The awareness will be made easier.”

He added that security agencies have been able to make some progress in the north-east because of “an element of good governance”.