The House of Representatives has directed its National Security and Intelligence Committee to “investigate the operational and cooperative lapses by Nigerian intelligence agencies, which have led to a dearth of adequate intelligence.”
The committee is expected to report back to the House within eight weeks with recommendations for additional legislative action.
Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House, filed a resolution in plenary on Thursday titled “Need to Strengthen the Intelligence Gathering Capacity of Security Agencies in Nigeria.”
Idahosa cited the recent rise in instability across the nation, which has included kidnappings, terrorism, cattle rustling, and farmer/herder clashes, among other things.
The lawmaker also noted that the situation could be attributed to the lack of timely and adequate intelligence gathering, which he said had “rendered security activities in the country ineffective, thus encouraging attacks by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers.”
According to him, the development is due to the absence of intelligence that would have prompted pre-emptive or proactive actions by the security forces.
Idahosa stated that lack of professional handling of sensitive intelligence (information) had “led to colossal loss of lives and property across the country, particularly in the North-East and North-West geopolitical zones.”
The lawmaker also noted that frosty relationships among the security forces and the citizens are another challenge to security operations, “hence the near-collapse of the gathering of intelligence.”
He stressed the need to improve the professional standards of Nigeria’s security agencies in the aggressive gathering of intelligence and restructure the general intelligence architecture.
Idahosa also stressed the significant role of intelligence in security operations to surmount the ongoing war against insurgency in Nigeria.
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