•House committee insists N595bn allocated to intelligence sub-sector inadequate
•Senate rejects information ministry’s meagre N8.9bn budget
Sunday Aborisade and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction has asked the National Assembly to approve N260 billion for it in the 2025 budget in order to create two million jobs.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, made the demand on Friday when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Poverty Reduction and Social Investment for the ministry’s 2025 budget defence.
But the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence said the total allocation of N595,024,943,368 billion to the sub-sector in the 2025 appropriation bill was inadequate. The committee chairman, Hon. Ahmed Satomi, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the budget defence meeting with agencies under the committee’s oversight jurisdiction.
Yilwatda was accompanied to the session by the national coordinator of National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mr. Gbadamosi Lawan.
He said, “The National Assembly should note that the ministry has a mandate to create two million jobs in 2025.
“This will be achieved through a combination of efforts: the ministry has already procured starter packs that would enable over 110,000 beneficiaries to embark on self-reliant ventures.
“These starter packs are vital tools for entrepreneurship and economic growth.
“However, to ensure the success of these programmes, we require N55 billion funds to conduct a two-week intensive training for all beneficiaries, payment of resource person and logistics funding to facilitate the effective distribution of the starter packs at N45,000 per beneficiary.
“There is need for monitoring and evaluation to ensure the transparency and sustainability of these initiatives at N5,000 per beneficiary.
“Additionally, we need to train 50,000 unemployed graduates and non-graduates under our Skill2Wealth Initiative which seeks to create many micro and small-scale businesses.
“This will cost N50 billion (at N1,000,000 per beneficiary: covering training in all the 36 states and FCT, Starter pack, linkage to the market and M&E).”
Yilwatda added, “There is also the need to create a budget line for Humanitarian Response Fund of N10 billion for communities affected by climate-change related disasters, conflicts and man-made crises, including: flooding, fire outbreaks and insurgency attacks that have displaced thousands.
“In the same vein, another budget line of N15 billion is required in 2025 fiscal year for durable solutions for households affected by disaster in 2024, just as additional sum of N130 billion is required by the ministry as intervention fund to resolve these humanitarian and poverty reduction challenges across the country in 2025.”
The minister assured that efforts will be intensified to get Mr. President’s approval for the release of the sum of N3.7 billion approved in the 2024 Appropriation Act for grant to 5,000 vulnerable groups, domiciled with Access Bank, for onward disbursement to the beneficiaries.
Giving details on the 2025 proposed budget, he said overhead was increased from N682.7 billion in 2024 to N978.3billion in 2025, representing 43.31 per cent increase, to cushion changes caused by inflation.
For capital budget, he lamented that the N4,601,092 billion provided in the 2025 proposal was inadequate to address the increasing humanitarian challenges in the country, as support from global partners had dwindled
Yilwatda told the committee, “It is worth noting that global humanitarian support from donor countries has dropped, and most donors are targeting the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.”
He also urged the National Assembly to amend the NSIPA Act to address gaps hampering effective operations of the agency, especially in the area of funding.
Responding to his presentation, the committee assured the minister that the National Assembly will provide sufficient funds for the ministry in 2025 fiscal year to enable it reduce poverty among vulnerable Nigerians and address humanitarian crises across the country.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence stressed that in the 2025 budget, defence and security sectors were allocated N4.91 trillion, underscoring the priority accorded security in the 2025 budget.
Satomi said, “For this laudable allocation, may I, however, note that the intelligence sub-sector appears to be grossly underfunded going by the total allocation of N595,024,943,368 billion to the subsector.
“Out of which proposed capital expenditure allocation is N274,550,298,453.00, overhead allocation is N107,963,187,783, while allocation to personnel expenditure for the entire intelligence sector is N212,511,457,132 billion.”
The committee chairman pointed out that it was not encouraging to observe that the frontline agencies saddled with statutory responsibilities of countering violent extremism, terrorism, illicit flow of small arms and light weapons, intelligence gathering and analysis, maintenance of national security and ensuring the provision of safe, secure and efficient air transportation for the president, vice president and other notable government officials were negligibly funded.
Satomi stated, “Going by submissions before the committee, it is heart-breaking that an agency like the National Centre for Counter Terrorism has not gotten any capital release for year 2023 and year 2024.
“The National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSSALW) are yet to receive a single kobo for their capital projects in 2024.
“The capital releases to the DSS and NIA are insufficient to motivate these agencies to work optimally in order to deliver on their critical mandates.”
Satomi called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene for an increase in the allocations to the agencies in the intelligence sector. He also urged the president to direct the Minister of Finance to, as a matter of national security, prioritise the full release of all outstanding 2024 budget allocations to the intelligence agencies and sustain the practice of prompt releases to them going forward.
Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office, Mohammed Danjuma, lamented that the envelope system of budgeting provided a lot of constraints in terms of resource allocation to the community. Danjuma said despite this challenge, the agencies tried to strike a balance between their operational needs and the government’s fiscal constraints.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence stressed that in the 2025 budget, defence and security sector were allocated N4.91 trillion, thus underscoring the priority accorded to security in the 2025 Budget.
Satomi said: “For this laudable allocation, may I however note that the intelligence sub sector appears to be grossly underfunded going by the total allocation of N595,024,943,368 billion to the subsector.
“Out of which proposed capital expenditure allocation is N274,550,298,453.00, Overhead allocation is N107,963,187,783 while allocation to personnel expenditure for the entire intelligence sector is N212,511,457,132 billion.”
The chairman pointed out that it was therefore not encouraging to observe that the frontline agencies saddled with statutory responsibilities of countering violent extremism, terrorism, ‘illicit flow of small arms and light weapons, intelligence gathering and analysis, maintenance of national security and ensuring the provision of safe, secure and efficient air transportation for the president, vice president and other notable government officials are negligibly funded.
Satomi noted: “Going by submissions before the committee, it is heartbreaking that an agency like the National Centre for Counter Terrorism has not gotten any capital release for year 2023 and year 2024.
“The National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) and the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSSALW) are yet to receive a single kobo for their capital projects in 2024.
“The capital releases to the DSS and NIA are insufficient to motivate these agencies to work optimally in order to deliver on their critical mandates.”
Satomi therefore called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene for an increase in the allocations to the agencies in the intelligence sector and also direct the Minister of Finance to as a matter of national security, to prioritize the full release of all outstanding 2024 budget allocations to the intelligence agencies and sustain the practice of prompt releases to them going forward.
The Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office, Mohammed Danjuma, lamented the envelope system of budgeting provides a lot of constraints in terms of resources allocation to the community.
He said despite this challenge, the agencies try to strike a balance between their operational needs and the government’s fiscal constraints.
Also, the Senate Committee on Appropriations has rejected the N8.9 billion 2025 budget proposal of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, describing it as inadequate.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Kenneth Eze, announced the decision to reject the proposed 2025 budget for the ministry when the Minister, Mohammed Idris, appeared before the committee to defend the ministry’s appropriation.
Eze stated that the decision to reject the budget was unanimous and had been adopted by all members of the committee.
“Last year, the minister appeared before the National Assembly and in particular the Senate, and we observed the very insignificant and minimal appropriation for the entire ministry considering the fact and the role that the information sector plays in this country and we are saying we want to drive a transformative agenda of Mr. President.
“We deemed it necessary last year to recommend to the Appropriation Committee that there is every need for the information sector to be well funded and in doing that by the end of the day, we didn’t get the expected result.
“The ministry appeared before the committee again and came with the same and even lower appropriation for the information sector and its agencies. As the National Assembly and Senate, in particular, and as very responsive lawmakers, we feel it’s not proper and it’s unacceptable for us to legislate on that proposal. So, the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation unanimously resolved that this budget be returned.
“If the government wants to fund the information sector in this country, it should live up to the expectations and fund a very important sector like information properly so that the expected results will be achieved. So, we have thrown back the budget proposal to them to either improve on it or we give them zero allocation,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris, who was accompanied by the Director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ibidapo Okunnu, and heads of agencies under the ministry, posited that the mandate of the ministry as a service provider is to project and defend the image of the country, as well as dissemination of information and promotion of national values.
“The year 2024 was pivotal for the ministry as we rolled out a series of innovative and impactful programmes to enhance public communication, deepen citizens’ engagement, and promote national values,” Idris said.
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