By Christiana Ekpa
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, on Tuesday said that the country’s persistent security challenges are discouraging potential investors and fueling a humanitarian crisis.
Speaking on Tuesday at a one-day public hearing on a bill for the establishment of a Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund, Abbas noted that insecurity has also worsened food shortages, as many farmers have abandoned their farms due to safety concerns.
He stressed the need for legislative intervention to tackle these issues, stating that the proposed bill aims to enhance the capacity of Nigeria’s security and intelligence agencies in fulfilling their constitutional duty of protecting lives and property.
The Speaker said: “As you are aware, the security of life and property is a very vital nation building tool. It is the most effective instrument in attracting investment and ensuring even development of a country.
“Therefore, the importance of security cannot be overemphasized especially in a country like ours that is pulling all the necessary plugs to attract investment and create opportunities for jobs and employment of our youths.
“I must admit that security has been a major challenge in our country. We cannot gloss over the loss of human lives and materials arising from banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, oil and solid minerals theft, insurgency among others.
“These have had the combined effect of scaring investors and creating humanitarian challenges through the displacement of families. They have also created issues with food security arising from desertion of farms by farmers. It is therefore imperative that we use the instrumentality of the law to effectively address these challenges.
“Despite these challenges, our security forces have continued to work hard within its constitutional powers to maintain security of lives and property.
“This public hearing is organized to afford members of the public the opportunity to make informed contributions that would assist the House of Representatives to take a decision towards the establishment of a Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund which would lend itself to help increase the funding of the security agencies and enhance their capacities for intelligence gathering, training, and equipment with the overall aim of nipping security challenges in the bud.
While describing the event as a very important national event, Speaker Abbas said the hearing presents members of the public the opportunity to contribute to the law making process of the National Assembly
He said: “Your contributions will go a long way in helping the House to sieve through the possibilities and the possible pitfalls of this new legislation in order 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.
“Therefore, I expect a very robust debate and contribution from members of the public. I also expect a critical examination of the proposed law and recommendations that will guide the House in its lawmaking function.
“It is part of our legislative agenda to use the instrumentality of the law to ease the process of the governance and development of our dear country through legislation that would ensure the security of our country and by so doing drive investments that will help create jobs for our youths as well as enable Nigerians to move freely across their country.
“Therefore, while I look forward to a deeply enriching public debate on the establishment of the Nigeria Security and Intelligence Trust Fund, I want to assure you that the House will lend itself to promoting Nigeria’s best interest in the pursuits of the objectives and goals of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s, Renewed Hope mandate”.
Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Ahmed Satomi said the bill seeks to provide funding for security and intelligence related matters outside of the usual budgetary provisions.
According to him, the 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 for the enhancement of the technical competency and operational readiness of our security personnel in all areas of their operations.
In addition, he said the fund will ensure the upgrade and maintenance of the training institutions to global standards, make resources available for research and development including the utilization 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 said: “Over the years, Nigerian intelligence agencies have been grossly underfunded, rather more resources have been devoted to kinetic responses to our nations security challenges. The truth which is globally recognized is that kinetic operations cannot sustainably guarantee the provision of peace and security in any country.
“At best, the contribution of kinetic response to sustainably of peace and security cannot exceed 30 percent at the most. Therefore, it is time to lay more emphasis on intelligence gathering, intelligence sharing and collaborative deployment and utilization of actionable intelligence if we must drastically reduce the menace of insecurity and its devasting impact on the Nigerian economy.
“It is expected that the funding deficit experienced by this critical subsector will be substantially addressed with the passage of the Bill.”
He said further that “section 14 (2)b of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria emphatically states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of governance.
“This therefore presupposes that we all must do whatever it takes to ensure that our institutions guarantee the protection of the lives and properties of all Nigerians wherever they reside and carry out their legitimate businesses in Nigeria and even abroad.”
He explained that the passage of the Bill means that funds will no longer be a major hindrance to the effectiveness and efficiency of our security and intelligence agencies to deliver on their mandates.
