House of Reps seek more funding for defence agency

House of Representatives’ Committee on Defence has stressed need for more funding for the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Committee Chair, Babajimi Benson, spoke when he led members on the maiden oversight to headquarters of DIA in Abuja.

Benson said the DIA is central to the security architecture of the nation and the visit underscores importance to intelligence driven approaches in addressing multifaceted security challenges.

He said: “There are three intelligence agencies in Nigeria: DSS, NIA and DIA. We have looked at the budget of the three and believe DIA should be getting more because it does not only cover internal security which has allowed the armed forces to come in, but also provide intelligence from Nigeria and outside Nigeria

So, they are the only agency wearing those two caps. DSS is just Nigeria, NIA is foreign but DIA does both. But if you look at the budget of the three agencies it is shocking DIA gets the least.

So, we are here today to see what they have done with the little they have, but there is a need to ramp up what they get for them to be at par with what DSS and NIA get. This is the recommendation we are taking away and we are going to ensure Mr President, father of the nation, sees it.

“He needs to adopt DIA as his baby because they need so much potential. As you can see insecurity has gone down drastically in Nigeria and DIA has played a very critical role,” Benson said.