The House of Representatives on Thursday asked the federal government to provide adequate funding for security agencies by exempting them from the envelope budget system.
Chairman, House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada, made the call when the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno and heads of other security agencies appeared before the for the 2023 budget defence.
Sharada said: “It’s instructive to note that the total budget of the intelligence community was slightly reduced from N212,764,192,844 in 2022 to N195,018,115,836 in 2023.
“This is as a result of economic challenges primarily caused by global economic instability and the COVID-19 pandemic”.
He said the committee had appealed to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to consider removing agencies under the intelligence community from the envelope budgeting system to strengthen their operational capacity.
He charged the security agencies to secure the country, especially before, during and after the 2023 general elections.
In his remarks, Monguno attributed the recent successes recorded by the military, against bandits, insurgents and other criminal elements, to the timely intelligence provided by security agencies,” he said.
