•Holds nine-hour closed session with ministers, service chiefs, IGP, others
Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Senate, after about nine hours meeting with the heads of nation’s military and security agencies, passed a vote of confidence in the security chiefs and commended President Bola Tinubu for the efforts being made to secure the country.
The meeting, which also had ministers in attendance, started around 12:30pm and ended at 9pm.
The heads of the security agencies in attendance were the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Taoheed Lagbaja; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar; the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; the Director General of Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, and the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
The meeting also had in attendance, the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawale; Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Geidam; and the Minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan Ibrahim.
Others were the Minister of Interior, Hon Olubunmi Tunji Ojo; the Minister of Finance who is also the coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who read the resolution at the end of the meeting, said the Interior Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had been mandated to ensure the unification of all the means of identification being issued by government agencies in Nigeria.
But briefing journalists after the session, Senate spokesperson, Adeyemi Adaramodu, said the Senate was impressed with the determination and focus of the security chiefs and urged them to do more to ensure security of lives.
He said the security chiefs and the National Security Adviser answered questions bordering on security matters, adding that the Senate commended the president for his efforts to protect lives and property.
The Senate, he added, also commended Service Chiefs and urged them to follow all the suggestions and revelations and use them for future actions.
Adaramodu said: “We commended the Security Chiefs and particularly pointed out that the Interior Minister should use a unified system of identification, that will be a better thing for Nigerians.
“For the security chiefs we assure you of not just the support of Senate but the National Assembly. We pass vote of confidence on the Service Chiefs.
“We listened to the military and other security chiefs and we related with them. They allayed our fears and answer our questions satisfactorily.
“When we asked questions from Interior Minister on how to apprehend criminals through standardisation of identities of Nigerians, we got assurances regarding border patrols and we insisted that they must be manned seriously.
“The Finance Minister assured us that funds will be released expeditiously to Service Chiefs. We got that pledge.
“We even suggested inviting the Minister of Justice so that we can get speedy trials of criminals with what we heard today. We got assurances that Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief.”
Adaramodu confirmed that the Senate was impressed with the briefing by the service chiefs and other heads of security agencies.
He said it was agreed that adequate funds be released to them to purchase modern equipment to fight terrorism and other internal security breaches.
He said the issue of state police was not discussed because the lawmakers was particular in finding immediate solutions to the current situation.
“Yes, we passed vote of confidence we are impressed with what they have been doing so far. Look at how they handled the situation in Bwari, the criminals have been apprehended. Look at what they are doing in Ekiti and Plateau also.
“The problem is that the attacks happened sporadically. That’s why we asked them where we can come in. The Minister of Finance has assured us of adequate funding,” he said.
However, before the meeting, Akpabio had said in addition to the Service Chiefs, the upper chamber decided to invite some ministers supervising the finances of the security agencies such as the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun.
He said, “We can talk security, but we need money also to procure equipment and to do a lot of things. So their presence here will give us a lot of insights into how funding will be handled to ensure the security of lives and property.
“Basically the Senate decided to take this option for us to have this interaction because of the various petitions that we have received from our constituents. As part of our oversight function, we decided to do this through the Committee of the Whole.
“We need to hear directly from you and then brief the people, if there is any cause for alarm and if there is no cause for alarm we will also know.
“If there is anything you want the National Assembly or the Senate to do, we will do, working closely with our partners in the House of Representatives.
“The visitors admitted into the chamber included the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Ministers of Defence, Police Affairs, Interior and Finance in addition to the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, DG DSS, and DG, NIA.
“The reasons for the invitation was already known to the invitees, saying that senate decided to take the option of having the interaction because of the various petitions from constituents.”
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, moved the motion for the chamber to dissolve into executive session so that the senators could meet with security chiefs.
His motion was seconded by the Minority Leader, Abba Moro.
