By Mohammed Mohammed
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Wednesday expressed determination to turn around the fortunes of the Ministry in the coming years even as he said that plans are top gear to shore up and improve the Ministry’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
He acknowledged though, that headwinds occasioned by COVID-19 took its toll on the global economy with severe impact on developing countries.
Aregbesola, made the disclosure during the 2021 Budget Performance and 2022 budget defence at the House of Representative Committee on Interior at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Minister who spoke after the presentation by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Shuaib Belgore, and the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Nasiru Sanu Zangon Daura and other members of his committee’s expressed happiness on the Committee’s understanding that the Ministry should feel free to request for assistance when they need such.
This prompted the Minister to forward some critical areas deserving urgent attention, as according to him: the Ministry needs increased provision for Monitoring and Evaluation, citing that the envelope system is not adequate, and to ensure effective and adequate supervision of all the Services under its control nationwide.
Aregbesola, said: “The Ministry is appealing for increased funding to be able to organize an all-inclusive stakeholder’s engagement across the country on issue of internal security especially with the recent jail attacks in Imo, Imo State, Kabba, Kogi State, and only recently in Abolongo in Oyo State.
According to him, the Ministry is confronted with the lack of regular stakeholders’ engagement across the country, adding that all of this require huge funding. He pleaded with the Committee to graciously look into for improvement the Minister submitted.
Speaking further, the Minister said there is need for an increased consultancy funds from the current envelope, which is to ensure that the proposed Institute of security studies is properly funded to achieve its aim of training all security officers on the basic requirements that will ensure our collective peace and tranquility in Nigeria that will in the end grow a strong economy.
Further in his remarks, Belgore, underscores that the Ministry is saddled with the responsibility of safety, internal security and citizenship integrity of the country, explaining that this plays a vital role in ensuring that citizens are well protected.
Belgore, added that the “Ministry currently has Nine Marriage Registries across the country, but that comparatively this is not enough to adequately accommodate all the large crowds that needs to use the facilities, nevertheless, the Ministry already has a Presidential approval to open additional 26 Registries before year 2022 ends” Belgore added.
While responding to some issues raised by Committee members on the issue of insurance, he revealed that” some buildings at Ikoyi Marriage Registry were dilapidated and provision for more funds is urgently required for the renovation of the structure to enhance efficient operations.