Reps grills Kingibe, others over alleged missing $202m NIA funds

Members of the presidential panel on the restructuring of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe were on Tuesday, grilled by the House Committee on National Security and Public Safety.

The committee headed by Hon Sani Jajai Aminu, met behind in closed doors with the presidential committee members .

The committee among other considerations is probing about $202million allegedly missing from the coffers of the agency as well as issues bothering on the appointment and competency of Ahmed Rufai Abubakar as new director general of the agency.

Members of the press, who were billed to cover what the chairman referred to as an investigative hearing, were barred from covering the event.

After the closed door interaction, Ambassador Kingibe and other members of the panel hurriedly left the committee room without speaking to journalists.

But in an interview with journalists, Hon Aminu said that the House committee was making progress in its investigation, even though the exercise was ongoing.

He declined to be specific on why the members of the presidential panel were summoned and what issues they discussed with the committee.

The Daily Times recalls that the House committee members had raised an alarm over the missing $202million belonging to the agency which they vowed to recover.

The committee had said it will invite any person, including former chiefs of the agency and the presidential panel headed by Kingibe to shed new light over the missing funds.