The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence has called on the Federal Government to release the total capital allocation, as contained in both the 2024 budget and the 2025 budget estimates to the security agencies.
Chairman of the Committee, Ahmed Satomi, made the call on Monday during the 2025 budget defence by agencies under the purview of the Office of the National Security Adviser.
According to the lawmaker, intelligence agencies must to be adequately funded to ensure that they effectively perform their duties. He disclosed that capital allocation to some of the intelligence agencies in 2024 has not been released, while releases to others were at a low percentage.
Satomi commended President Bola Tinubu for allocating N4. 91tn to Defence, even as he stressed the significance of prioritising the intelligence sub-sector in terms of capital allocation in the 2025 fiscal year.
He added that the intelligence sub-unit was allocated N595bn, with a proposed capital expenditure allocation of N274.55bn, overhead allocation of N107.96bn and personnel allocation of N212.51bn.
He said, “I am calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, to please intervene not just for an increase in the allocations to the agencies in the intelligence sector but to also direct the Minister of Finance to, as a matter of national security, prioritise the full release of all outstanding 2024 budget allocations to the intelligence agencies and sustain the practice of prompt releases to them going forward.
“It is imperative to note that the 2025 budget (proposal) 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.”
He added, “Deradicalisation, disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes 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.
“Going by the submissions before the committee, it is heartbreaking that an agency like the National Centre for Counter-Terrorism has not gotten any capital release for the year 2023 and year 2024.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Special Services in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Mohammed Danjuma, stated that the proposed 2025 budget is aimed at dealing with current security threats facing the nation.
Danjuma told the committee that the Tinubu-led government is committed to empowering the security agencies to gather intelligence seamlessly, among other functions.
He stated that the budget will enhance coordination and collaboration by strengthening partnerships within security agencies to foster a more cohesive and responsive security architecture.
He said: “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 these challenges, the agencies try to strike a balance between their operational needs and the government’s fiscal constraints”.
He assured Nigerians of 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.
Representatives of the Office of the National Security Adviser, Directorate of State Services, National Intelligence Agency and the Presidential Air Fleets, were also present at the budget defence session.
