The House of Representatives has directed the federal government to publicly identify the sponsors behind terrorism and banditry ravaging different parts of Nigeria.
Lawmakers passed the resolution on 3 December 2025 during plenary after adopting the report of a special security debate held the previous week.
The emergency session took place on 25 November 2025, with more than 200 members present to review the persistent wave of insurgent attacks, mass abductions, and rural ambushes that have plagued the country for over a decade.
Nigeria’s battle with terrorism began in earnest in 2009 when Boko Haram launched coordinated strikes on police formations in Borno State. United Nations figures place deaths from the insurgency above 35,000 by 2023, with 2.1 million people still displaced across the Lake Chad basin. Banditry took root in the northwest from 2014, escalating sharply after 2018 when armed groups began large-scale kidnappings for ransom in Zamfara, Katsina, and Kaduna states.
The Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2011, amended in 2022, grants the president authority to designate terror financiers and freeze assets through the Nigeria Sanctions Committee. Central Bank records show only 15 individuals and entities have been listed since the law took effect. A separate 2021 disclosure from the Ministry of Justice acknowledged receipt of foreign intelligence dossiers on cross-border funding channels, but no corresponding prosecutions appear in court registries.
Under the current administration, security spending rose to N3.25 trillion in the 2025 budget, representing a 20 per cent increase over the previous year. Line items cover drone surveillance, forward operating bases, and community policing units in 12 northern states.
The resolution tasks the Attorney-General to work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on asset tracing and public disclosure. Section 2(3) of the 2022 Act requires real-time intelligence sharing among the Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, and military high command, though October 2025 compliance reports flagged persistent delays.
