The Senate has condemned the spate of insecurity across Nigeria, blaming it on the collapse of the country’s security structure. At the plenary on Wednesday, the upper chamber of the National Assembly said that many lives were being lost in the country to clashes and crimes without a major step by the government to stop the killings. The lawmakers took turns to X-ray the issues affecting the security of lives and properties in the country while speaking on a motion moved by Senator Tijjani Kaura, entitled ‘Urgent Need to Look Into the Killings and Arson that Took Place in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.’
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, in a summary of the contributions by the senators, said the consensus was that the country’s security system had failed. Saraki said, “Clearly, all the messages that are coming is that there is definitely a collapse of what is either called security infrastructure or national security, with this level of impunity. The impunity being that people all over now illegally carry arms around the whole place. The fact that in the past, many committees had been set up to look at the reformation of the police but as of today, no action has been taken. Issues were raised on whether there is the need for what is called state police or community police but the big point is that it is for us to redesign the structure and based on that decide on what the solution is, not the solution before the design.
“Of course, the issue of funding of our security agencies is there too. And we have shown here many times how committed we are and our national approach to major government issues. We must be able to define exactly what we want to do in taking this problem head-on.” The lawmakers resolved to set up an ad hoc committee of the Senate “to review the current security infrastructure of the country, and in consultation with the security agencies make necessary recommendations on the way forward in the security arrangement. Setting agenda for the proposed panel, the Senate President said, “The purpose of us setting up an ad hoc committee is to take the responsibility of driving the process and the committee will address all the issues.”
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