For terrorist organizations that have repented, the federal government is thinking of building rehab facilities.
Rear Admiral Yem Musa (retired), the coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, revealed to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence that the NCTC intends to establish two centers for the disarmament, deradicalization, rehabilitation, and reintegration of terrorists who have admitted their crimes.
His, according to him, is a component of the NCTC’s 2023 capital projects.
The centers will receive N2, 400,000,000 of the estimated capital expenditure of N3, 839,160,000 for the following year.
On November 17, 2022, the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retired), brought representatives of the intelligence community before the committee to defend their individual 2023 budget plans.
Musa bemoaned the NCTC’s struggle with a lack of resources to fulfill its intended aims while being less than a year old.
The NCTC presentation to the committee partly reads: “Since its establishment, efforts have been made towards the setting up and operationalization of the center. These efforts have not been easy due to a lack of funding for the center since its inception early this year as provision was not made for funding in this year’s budget.
“That is why this maiden budget is key to the effective take-off and operationalization of the center to achieve its core mandate.”
The planned personnel cost for 2023, according to Musa, was N1,864,889,169, but the Budget Office of the Federation revised it to N997,152,292.25, which he claimed, “is insufficient for the Centre considering its proposed staff strength.”
The NCTC coordinator begged the committee to take into account and accept the initial amount submitted by the center.
Despite the NCTC’s proposal to allocate N3, 839,160,000 to its capital projects, only N428, 860,000 was ultimately approved.
The committee was urged by the NCTC coordinator to “facilitate the appropriation of (a) the sum of N1,864,889,169.00 only as personnel cost for the Year 2023; (b) the sum of N5,860,610,050.00 only as overhead cost for the Year 2023; (c) the sum of N3,839,160,000.00 only for the Year 2023 capital expenditure.”
