House of Reps urges FG to remove security agencies from envelope budgeting system

report that the House of Representatives yesterday urged the Federal Government to remove the military and security establishment from the restrictive envelope budget system. The Green Chamber said the current arrangement does not allow them to develop a robust budget that is based on a needs assessment that reflects security peculiarities and the realities on the ground. The House resolved to investigate the utilization and effectiveness of the Safe School Initiative Fund that was launched in 2014 to protect schools from attacks. It also resolved at plenary to investigate the failure of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) and other security agencies to repel attacks on a community in Benue State, despite receiving distress calls. Adopting two separate motions of urgent public importance sponsored by Ahmed Munir (APC, Kaduna) and Austin Achado (APC, Benue), the House asked the National Security Adviser (NSA) to coordinate and galvanize all security and intelligence networks to develop and execute a proactive master plan to restore security with neighbouring countries.