By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, expressed joy over the popular support given by stakeholders at a public hearing, to a bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund.

Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Hon Ahmed Satomi, told Journalists that over ninty per cent of submissions by stakeholders were in Favour of the establishment bill.

While stressing that some submissions indicated that the establishment was long overdue, he expressed optimism that the bill would soon scale through third reading and passed for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign into law in support of his renewed hope agenda.

In his remarks at the public hearing, Satomi said, the bill “promises to be an elixir to the seemingly ever-increasing security challenges that daily confronts us as a people and as a nation.

“The Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund 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’s 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.

“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 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.  

“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.

“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.  

“The passage of this 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.

Mr. Speaker, Hon. Colleagues, this Committee promises to make further provisions in this Bill to ensure that resources are not abused and that the legislative intent driving this Bill is not compromised.

In an address, the Speaker, Rt Hon Tajudern Abbas, said that the establishment of a Nigerian Security and Intelligence Trust Fund, was aimed at boosting the capacity of Nigeria’s security and intelligence architecture to effectively pursue their constitutional mandate of security of lives and property, which is the primary responsibility of government.

“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”, the Speaker stated.