The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, on Monday, decried the poor funding of the Nation’s security and intelligence sector and urged President Bola Tinubu to redress the anomaly for the national interest.
Speaking at the budget defence session of Agencies under the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, in Abuja, the Chairman of the Committee, Ahmed Satomi appealed to President Tinubu to direct the Minister of Finance to ensure the immediate full release of the 2024 capital allocation to the security and intelligence sector in the overall interest of the nation’s security.
Satomi complained that it was regrettable that capital allocation to some of the intelligence agencies has not been released, while releases to others have not been encouraging.
According to the lawmaker, even though there was an appreciable allocation to the security sector, the intelligence subsector had been grossly underfunded, saying that the committee would look for ways to ensure an increase in the budget to the sector.
He however emphasized the importance of collective efforts in ensuring the security and welfare of Nigerian citizens, adding that the Committee’s oversight jurisdiction encompasses critical agencies that play vital role in maintaining national security.
According to him, “It is the duty of everyone to ensure that they are adequately equipped to discharge their mandates in a responsible and accountable manner.
He recalled that the President presented the 2025 budget of N49.7 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly with an expected revenue of N36.35 trillion and a budget deficit of N13.39 trillion.
While commending the President for allocating about N4.91 trillion to the Defence and Security sector thus underscoring the priority accorded to security in the 2025 Budget, he lamented that the intelligence subsector appears grossly underfunded.
According to him, the intelligence subsector was allocated N595,024,943,368 billion out of which the proposed capital expenditure allocation is N274,550,298,453.00, overhead allocation receiving N107,963,187,783 while personnel cost got N212,511,457,132 billion.
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“It is imperative to note that the 2025 Budget is christened the “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity.” Securing peace presupposes that a lot of engagements with citizens will be undertaken by the government at all levels.
“Deradicalization, disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration programs etc will have to be carried out as a major non-kinetic initiative by the Federal government of Nigeria in collaboration with other tiers of government.
“It is therefore not encouraging to observe that the frontline agencies saddled with statutory responsibilities of countering violent extremism, terrorism, ‘illicit flow of small arms and light weapons, intelligence gathering and analysis, maintenance of national security and ensuring the provision of safe, secure and efficient air transportation for the President, Vice President and other notable government officials are negligibly funded.
While speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Special Services in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Mohammed Danjuma explained that the proposed budget was tailored towards addressing the evolving security challenges facing the nation, ensuring the effective coordination of security agencies, seamless intelligence gathering and information sharing, and other specialized services to enhance National Security.
According to him, the budget would enhance coordination and Collaboration by strengthening partnerships within security agencies to foster a more cohesive and responsive security architecture; enhance infrastructural development by improving existing operational facilities and equipment to support efficient service delivery and ensure capacity building and manpower development by upgrading the skills and expertise of personnel to address emerging security challenges.
“It is worth noting that the envelop system of budgeting provide a lot of constrain in terms of resources allocation to the community. However, despite this challenge, the agencies try to strike a balance between their operational needs and the government’s fiscal constraints”.
The Permanent Secretary assured the commitment of the Intelligence Community to transparency, accountability and effective resource management by ensuring that the budgetary provisions align with the government’s overall security objectives.
Agencies at the budget defence include the Officer of the National Security Adviser, Directorate of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, Presidential Air Fleets, National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), National Counter Terrorism Centre and the National Cybercrimes Coordination Centre.
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