Keep our secrets safe: DSS Rejects foreign funding for intelligence gathering

Nigeria’s DSS has urged the House of Representatives to strip out clauses permitting foreign funding from a proposed DSS Security Trust Fund bill, warning that international contributions could compromise intelligence operations and national sovereignty.

Nigeria’s secret police wants your money — just not from overseas. The Department of State Services threw its weight behind a new bill to overhaul its funding on Thursday, but drew a firm line at one controversial clause: foreign cash.

At a public hearing organised by the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, the DSS endorsed the bill to establish a DSS Security Trust Fund but urged lawmakers to delete provisions permitting grants, donations and endowments from international organisations.

According to The Nation, the agency’s representative, Emmanuel Duabry, laid out exactly why. “Allowing foreign funding for a security-related Trust Fund raises serious concerns relating to sovereignty, operational confidentiality, and institutional independence,” he said, adding that such arrangements could “compromise sensitive security operations, including intelligence methods, procurement processes, and deployment strategies.”

The DSS also warned that foreign funding could introduce external influence over domestic security priorities that may not align with Nigeria’s specific challenges, including insurgency, banditry and kidnapping, and proposed that the Trust Fund should only accept grants and donations from local organisations.

The agency also took aim at governance. It opposed the inclusion of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum on the Trust Fund’s governing board, noting the body is not established by law, and instead proposed the Nigerian Bar Association nominate a representative with expertise in national security and human rights.

The public hearing considered three bills in total, all aimed at beefing up Nigeria’s intelligence architecture.