Government has proposed renaming the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) as the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) under the Security and Intelligence Agencies Bill, 2025, to reduce public confusion with the National Investment Bank.
The announcement was made by the Minister of the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, during parliamentary deliberations on Thursday, February 19, 2026.
Addressing Members of Parliament, the Minister explained that the overlap of acronyms has created unnecessary ambiguity within the country’s security framework.
“Everywhere in the world, you make sure that the acronyms for the security agencies do not match any other thing, and in fact, it is supported by law to make sure that nobody is able to name anything after an acronym of any of the security agencies,” he said.
He emphasised that the change seeks to align Ghana’s practices with international norms.
“Unfortunately, we have a situation where, when you say NIB, people are wondering whether you’re talking about the bank or you’re talking about the security agency.
“So Mister Speaker, one of the significant things that we are trying to do is to reintroduce the name BNI at this time, even though the BNI of yesterday was Bureau of National Investigation, this BNI will still remain Bureau of National Intelligence,” Minister Muntaka explained.
The Bill also proposes eliminating the Ministry of National Security portfolio to streamline operations and reduce role duplication.
Instead, the President will designate a Minister to oversee the National Security Coordinator.
“A detailed ministerial role and the function of the national security coordinator… if you assign or leave a ministry called Ministry of National Security… they begin to conflate, and they begin to have misunderstandings, and that affects the security architecture that we have in the country,” the Minister noted.
He further clarified the intended oversight framework: “One of the things that we are trying to do is to keep this position as more or less of that of the President, and then he gets one of his ministers to play that oversight without the necessarily fine, detailed designation of a minister for national security, so that as much as possible you try to avoid the conflict between the minister and the National Security Coordinator.”
The proposed reforms are part of a broader initiative to strengthen Ghana’s security institutions while ensuring clarity, efficiency, and alignment with global best practices.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
