Budget defence: Senate warns MDAs against lateness
The Senate yesterday cautioned heads of Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) against habitual lateness to committee engagements. It described the practice as unacceptable. The Senate said this yesterday
- Red Chamber lauds security chiefs
- Intelligence community seeks supplementary budget for speedy response
The Senate yesterday cautioned heads of Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) against habitual lateness to committee engagements.
It described the practice as unacceptable.
The Senate said this yesterday during the ongoing budget defence process of MDAs and other arms of government.
It, however, hailed heads of national security and intelligence agencies for their punctuality at critical legislative interfaces.
The Senate made the remarks during a budget defence session of its Committee on National Security and Intelligence, attended by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu; the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Olawatosin Ajayi, and other top security officials.
Expressing displeasure over the recurring lateness of some agency heads, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North) said the Senate would no longer tolerate the trend.
He specifically accused some former senators and members of the National Assembly, now appointed to executive positions, of being among the worst offenders.
Kalu said: “We are happy that the various heads of national security and intelligence agencies arrived for the budget defence session before the 11 a.m. fixed for the commencement of the interface. However, it is not so with many other heads of agencies, particularly those being led by former serving senators or National Assembly members.
“This is absolutely rubbish because this is a budget period that must be given the required seriousness by all stakeholders. The perpetual latecomers are always fond of lying that they came late for committees’ assignments because of presidential engagements at the Villa, which to us here are lies.”
Agreeing with Kalu’s remarks, Committee Chairman Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) said the warning should serve as a wake-up call to all affected agency heads.
He urged them to treat legislative engagements with the seriousness they deserve.
Also, the Nigerian intelligence community has appealed for a supplementary budget to ensure a timely and speedy response to national security issues.
The Permanent Secretary for Special Services in the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA), Mohammed Sanusi, made the appeal yesterday during a budget defence session before the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence.
The PS said this had become more pertinent with the recent declaration of a State of Emergency on National Security by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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He said no nation can grow without effective security ramifications.
Sanusi’s brief covers the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA) and its centres, which include National CounterTerrorism Centre (NCT), the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCCC), the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSA&LW) and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
In addition, it covered the Department of State Services (DSS), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) and the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).
Sanusi said key focus areas for the intelligence community in the current financial year include, but are not limited to, combating terrorism, banditry and kidnapping through enhanced intelligence and community-based strategies; securing critical infrastructure to ensure economic and food security; enhancing the protection of oil and gas critical infrastructure to increase output of oil production, maritime safety and border security.
Others, the permanent secretary said, are enhancing adequate cybersecurity; continuous maintenance of positive and tolerable security level within Three Arms Zone, the entire FCT and the country in general; capacity building and manpower development to address emerging security challenges; emerging transnational crimes and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons across the West African corridor; as well as the impact of political unrest within the contiguous West African countries.
He said some of the key challenges encountered by the intelligence community in the implementation of the 2025 budget include the envelop system of budgeting which constituted a lot of constraints in terms of resources allocation to the intelligence community.
Others, he added, are the irregular release of overhead cost; non-implementation of the releases of the 2025 appropriated overhead cost; and irregular release of foreign service personnel shortfall for 2024 due to forex differential.
Sanusi also said other challenges in the sector include the non-release of capital allocation; high exchange rate, as almost all service level agreements are transacted in U.S. dollars; inadequate operational vehicles for effective and efficient covert and overt operations; and increased cost of foreign exchange on the maintenance of the Presidential Air Fleet abroad instead of at its own hangar.
“I wish to state and reiterate to the distinguished members that the intelligence community always assured this committee and the entire National Assembly of its commitment to transparency, accountability and effective resource management by ensuring that the budgetary provisions align with the government’s overall security objectives.
“Finally, the intelligence community acknowledged and thanked Mr.
President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for his commitment and determination to ensure peace and security return in our respective communities. We also remain grateful to the National Assembly and its leadership for the support and understanding,” Sanusi said.
The Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Ahmad Satomi, said the allocation for the intelligence sub-sector was abysmal.
“I am also happy that Mr. President, in his speech, acknowledged the relevance of the intelligence subsector in the overall drive for a stable national security. In the 2026 budget speech, he said: ‘Our administration is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine — a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence gathering, community stability, and counter – insurgency. This new doctrine will fundamentally change how we confront terrorism and other violent crimes.’
“However, looking at the 2026 budget proposal, the Defence and security is allocated N5.41 trillion. The intelligence subsector, comprising the Office of the NSA and its agencies, the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency, the Presidential Air Fleet and the National Institute for Security Studies, is allocated a total of N664,119,740 for their personnel, overhead and capital expenditures in 2026. A further breakdown shows that personnel cost for all the agencies in the intelligence sector for 2026 is N245,941,663,329, total overhead cost proposal is N131,273,507,85 and total proposed capital expenditure N286,904,549,354.
“These allocations are indeed very abysmal and do not seem to match the intent of the speech delivered by the president to the Joint Session of the National Assembly on December 19, 2025.
“Also, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that the Presidency prioritises security and intelligence if we go by the releases for the 2025 budget implementation; at least, going by the releases that are known to us. One would have expected that if indeed the provision of welfare and security is the primary purpose of governance, then releases to the security sector should not be treated trivially.
“This committee is, therefore, making a passionate appeal to our dear president to please look into the funding of the agencies in the intelligence sector, enhance them and prioritise them,” Satomi said.
He recalled that President Tinubu had emphasised the imperative of national security as a bedrock to economic growth and stability, thus accentuating the primary responsibility of government as provided in section 14 (2b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
This, he said, cannot be achieved if the legislature and the executive do not see themselves as stakeholders and partners in the Nigerian project and thus acknowledge and respect each other’s constitutional responsibilities.
Satomi noted that a situation where security and intelligence agencies view the legislature as meddlesome interlopers whenever legislative committees try to carryout legislative oversight of the security sector is anti-productive and an ill wind that does not do any good to the country.
“Oversight does not mean antagonism, hostility or witch hunts, but rather it helps to get the Nigerian people participate in security governance through its elected representatives. This engenders citizens’ trust and appreciation of our men and women in the security sector, ensures transparency, accountability and value for money in the execution of government projects, programs and policies in the sector,” he said.
The committee chairman deplored the resistance of some agencies to parliamentary oversight responsibility.
“I dare say that not everything should be classified for the leadership and members of standing committees overseeing security and intelligence agencies. As honourable members of the National Assembly, we are bound by our Oaths/Affirmation of Allegiance and Oath of Membership prescribed in the seventh schedule of the Constitution.
“I therefore call for a change of attitude from the affected agencies so that together and as partners in nation building, we can carry out the primary responsibility of government, which is the provision of welfare and security to every Nigerian. No one arm of government can do it alone,” he said.
He noted that the National Assembly has enacted several legislations to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the security and intelligence sector.
He expected that going forward, the Committee on National Security and Intelligence will continuously engage all relevant stakeholders, particularly those entrusted to execute the body of laws in the security and intelligence sector, to ensure that these legislations are not just there on the shelves but that every provision is implemented to the letter to achieve the legislative intent for their enactments.
“In 2024, this committee undertook a visit to the training schools of the Department of State Services in Bauchi, Lagos and Enugu and has scheduled to visit the remaining ones in Kaduna and the proposed institution’s sites at Kogi and Cross River States. We also visited the Training School of the NIA in Lagos.
“We were disheartened by the sorry state of the facilities in all the schools we visited as what we observed cannot in all honesty, deliver world-class technical, psychological and sociological capabilities to our men and women who are laying down their lives for the service of our beloved country.
“Again, this committee calls on our dear president to direct that these training schools be given separate funding heads in the budget, as is done with the Armed forces and police training intuitions and adequate provisions should be made to run them
“Honourable colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, as we deliberate on the 2026 budget proposal today, this committee wish to assure you and all Nigerians that the House of Representatives is fully committed to supporting the agencies in the Intelligence sector to achieve success in the execution of their mandates.
“Our institutional efforts to deliver a safe, secured and conducive country which Nigerians and foreign residents are proud to live in and carry out their legitimate businesses should be collaborative and complementary,” he said.
