The House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has called on stakeholders to be mindful of the laws of the existing security agencies to ensure that in the process of solving a problem, a new one is created through duplicity of functions and roles.
Abbas stated this at the public hearing on a bill for an act to establish the Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund, organised by the House Committee on Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
The speaker said the bill would help increase the funding of the security agencies and enhance their capacities for intelligence gathering, training, and equipment to nip security challenges in the bud.
He admitted that security had been a significant challenge in the country as no one can gloss over the loss of human lives and materials arising from banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, oil and solid minerals theft, and insurgency, among others.
“These have had the combined effect of scaring investors and creating humanitarian challenges through the displacement of families. They have also developed food security issues arising from farmers’ desertion of farms. Therefore, we must use the instrumentality of the law to address these challenges effectively.
“This hearing presents members of the public with the opportunity to contribute to the law-making process of the National Assembly. Your contributions will go a long way in helping the House sieve through the possibilities and the possible pitfalls of this new legislation to arrive at a conclusion that would serve the best interest of our country.
“I must, however, remind all of us that as we navigate through this, we must also bear in mind the establishment laws of the existing security agencies to ensure that we do not, in the process of solving a problem, create a new one through a duplicity of functions and roles,” Abbas said.
On his part, the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence chairman, Hon. Ahmed Satomi(APC, Borno), said the bill seeks to provide funding for security and intelligence-related matters outside of the usual budgetary provisions.
“This fund will primarily be deployed to the training and retraining of personnel of Nigerian security agencies, provision of the state-of-the-art security and intelligence equipment and other necessary infrastructures/related facilities to enhance the technical competency and operational readiness of our security personnel in all areas of their operations.
“Furthermore, the fund will ensure the upgrade and maintenance of the training institutions to global standards, make resources available for research and development, including the utilisation of the outcome of such research to bring the intelligence agencies, the armed forces, and relevant paramilitary agencies at par with world best security agencies in this digital age,” he noted.
