TheCable

Ahmed Abubakar, newly appointed director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), appeared before the house of representatives committee on national security and intelligence on Tuesday.

Members of the panel which the president set up to restructure the NIA also appeared before the committee.

The three-member panel is headed by Babagana Kingibe, former secretary to the government of the federation.

The panel was set up to look into the operational, technical and administrative structure of the agency and make appropriate recommendations.

It was set up after Ayo Oke, the agency’s former director-general, was sacked over some amounts of money found in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos state.

The aim of the meeting is still not clear as journalists were asked to leave immediately after those present were introduced.

It may not be unconnected with the alleged missing monies at the NIA.

Last week, Aminu Jaji, chairman of the committee, said $202 million is missing from the coffers of the agency.

Earlier, there were reports that $44m was mssing in the vault of the agency but Jaji said the committee discovered the $44m was “moved to a different location”.