In what seems like a panicky move to placate the opposition lawmakers and douse the tension in the country, the leadership of the Senate has begun engaging the heads of security agencies in a dialogue, in order to find a way out of the insecurity bedeviling the nation.
The opposition Senators had issued a six-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to sanitise the country or face the wrath of the lawmakers. This was followed by the opposition members of the House of Representatives.
The members of the lower chamber equally threatened to begin impeachment moves against President Muhammadu Buhari, after the expiration of the six weeks. The lawmakers were complaining of kidnappings, killings and destruction of property by terrorists across the country.
The Senate leadership however went into a marathon meeting with the Service Chiefs on Wednesday, where the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, told security chiefs that the level of insecurity was frightening.
According to Lawan, there was nothing to show that the huge investments in security was yielding any result, given that the spate of attacks have become recurrent, an indication that the nation does not have security at all.
Lawan’s remark was against the backdrop of the terrorists’ siege to the Federal Capital Territory, saying that the meeting was at the instance of the Senate leadership in view of the worrisome dimension security challenges have turned.
Lawan said, “The current situation is now frightening as there is now,nowhere to go and nowhere to hide as the FCT, the seat of Government, is now under siege. The security concerns have crippled the economy and key sectors, notably Agriculture, describing it as unfortunate.”
The President of the Senate who noted that there was a need for security agents to look into ungoverned spaces in the rural areas, said that it has become so bad that Nigeria is no longer attractive to foreign direct investment.
Lawan also attributed the low national revenue to crude oil theft and dwindling revenue are key areas of concern to Nigerians, and said that the expectation is to begin to see drastic, immediate improvement in the security situation.
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Lucky Irabor who noted that issues of National Security must be seen from a collective perspective, said that a lot has happened and more was being done to improve the security situation of the country.
