Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has dismissed alleged embezzlement in the military by a whistle-blower claiming underpayment of soldiers as provided in the Manual of Financial Administration for the Armed Forces of Nigeria (MAFA) 2017.

A statement on Tuesday in Abuja by Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the MAFA document had not been activated for implementation.

According to him, the DHQ clarified that the insinuation that personnel of the Armed Forces are under remunerated, as against the provisions of MAFA 2017, is unfounded and untrue.

“Contrary to the claims made by the Twitter handle, @millisaint, the said document has not been activated and, therefore, yet to be implemented, since the Appropriation 2020 was recently passed.

“The provisions of the MAFA document are thus billed to be operational in Year 2020.

“It is also essential to point out that MAFA allowances are not part of the Salary Structure of the Armed Forces; consequently, even when implemented, the salary structure will remain unchanged.

“The anticipated impactful change on the salary structure will only come as a result of the recently approved N30,000 minimum wage that will be paid by IPPIS,” he said.