Legislative Support Needed for Nigeria to Surmount Insecurity – NSA

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), has said Nigeria cannot surmount the current security challenges without legislative support.

Monguno said this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence for his agency’s budget defence.

The Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada, said the total budget of the Intelligence community was slightly reduced from N212,764,192,844 in 2022 to N195,018,115,836 in 2023.

Monguno described intelligence as the driver for driving the myriad of security problems facing the country.

He said: “I must also say that the type of insecurity that confronts us is not peculiar just to Nigeria but it is a global thing. In today’s context, we can only overcome this problem when we recognise the importance of intelligence as being the driver, the propellant of all activities in the whole of society approach.

“It is important that all the problems I present are taken into consideration by this very important committee. We hinge all our hopes and aspirations on whatever action you would take in solving the myriad of problems that confront us. I want to assure you that the problems are quite enormous.

“The successes we have been recording so far in overcoming the security challenges, especially in the last four to five months, are basically rooted in the efforts of the Department of State Services (DSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), having been able to provide timely intelligence to the operational element.

“I want to commend their efforts and I also want to, by extension, commend the efforts of their counterparts in the operational sphere. Please, honourable members, I want to put aside whatever other competing considerations there are.”

“President Muhammadu Buhari has the desire to hand over to whoever is going to inherit what he is working on right now, a safer Nigeria. It is true and I have to be very honest with you that dealing with asymmetric warfare, overcoming asymmetric problems are completely different from what we experienced in the last century.

“Everything revolves around intelligence. And the intelligence we are dealing with is a broad spectrum, which goes all the way down to the local level. We deal with human beings. And if we are not supported in the right way, no matter how emotional, however psychological we are prepared, we cannot overcome this problem without legislative support.

“I am also happy to inform you that in the recently conducted ministerial retreat, which was organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on behalf of the President, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who were there, highlighted briefly some of the problems confronting us.

“They have all agreed to help us… We are appealing to you in good conscience, all of you represent different parts of this country, and I know you have the interest of Nigeria at heart. Our people are suffering. They are weeping, they are wailing, they are moaning, they are gnashing their teeth. We must help them. We have our limitations as intelligence agencies. The rest can only be done through legislative drive.”

Sharada said 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, he said, was the result of economic challenges caused by global economic instability and the COVID-19 pandemic.