The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has described the country’s security funding as a national embarrassment, insisting that the meagre allocation to critical security agencies, such as the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), makes a mockery of the fight against terrorism and transborder crimes.

Speaking at a Constitution Review Legislative Dialogue on national security held by the House Committee on Constitution Review in Abuja on Monday, Tunji-Ojo did not hold back in his criticism.

According to him, Nigeria’s budgetary commitment to internal security is “a joke” in the face of overwhelming challenges.

“If you look at the 2025 budget, how much did we allocate to border security?” the minister asked. “The capital budget of the Nigeria Immigration Service is less than N10 billion, and we expect it to cover over 4,000 square kilometres of our borders. Are we joking as a country?”

Tunji-Ojo warned that Nigeria is operating in a security climate similar to that of the United States before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said the country is awash with intelligence but incapable of acting due to systemic disorganisation and underfunding.

“Nigeria is now where the U.S. was before 9/11; there is intelligence, but there’s no structure to make sense of it. That’s a dangerous place to be,” he said.

He further argued that the nation cannot continue to rely solely on annual budgetary allocations as the primary means of funding law enforcement agencies, particularly the police.

“The police should not be reliant on the budget to perform their duty. Internal security cannot be run on ad hoc funding; it needs a consistent, sustainable system,” he said.

Beyond the budget, Tunji-Ojo questioned the relevance of several government agencies still in operation despite having outlived their usefulness.

“We must stop funding obsolete institutions while starving the ones we need to keep the country safe,” he said.

The minister also decried the increasing use of military forces for internal security duties, describing it as a clear sign of the failure of civil security institutions.

“When you think of internal security, the first thing that comes to mind is the military. That is failure. We must fund and empower our internal security agencies to do their job,” he said.

Also present at the dialogue was the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, who linked national insecurity to unchecked foreign infiltration. He revealed that EFCC recently arrested 194 foreigners from a single building in Lagos, many of whom had criminal records in their home countries.

“At least 15 were ex-convicts. We must ask how they entered the country in the first place,” he said.

In a similar tone, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs Kemi Nana Nandap, lamented the lack of constitutional recognition for border security, pointing out that over 1,400 illegal routes currently serve as entry points into Nigeria.

She noted that despite its strategic importance, border security remains outside the scope of consistent national planning and funding.

Tunji-Ojo concluded by saying the country is geographically challenged. “We are caught between the Sahel and the Gulf of Guinea. Anything that goes wrong in these regions finds its way into Nigeria. Without urgent reform in funding and legislation, we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. And frankly, the way we are handling it is a joke,” he said.