*Tinubu can rescue Kaduna, Sokoto students in 15 days, says Bwala
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Senate Committee Chairman on Army, Senator Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, yesterday, said the federal government was working on recruiting more security personnel to battle the rising crime rates in the country.
Equally, yesterday, former spokesman of the defunct Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, Daniel Bwala, said President Bola Tinubu could rescue the school children recently abducted in Kaduna State within 15 days.
Senator Yar’Adua, representing Katsina Central spoke in an interview on television monitored in Abuja.
According to him, “First of all, you have to understand that we have a problem with the strength of the police and the military and other security agencies that we have.
“They cannot really police and secure this nation. You must understand that, and I know the President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is working on that.”
Nigeria has been fighting banditry, kidnapping, oil bunkering, and a host of other crimes in recent times.
Yar’Adua who decried the number of security agencies, said “If you put all of them together, they are not up to one million in a country of 220 million people.”
He said, criminals would have the upper hand with the present number of security personnel in Nigeria. He, however, said there are plans to correct the current situation.
“You see, in this type of insurgency we are fighting, you need the strength of the army, police, and other security agencies to be increased. First of all, you know that the number of forests we have in Nigeria where we have these criminals have enclaves is almost 100 – forest reserves.
“If you look at the North-west, the latest statistics we have from civil societies and some security experts is that we have over 30,000 bandits and kidnappers.
“So, if you look at it, with the strength of military personnel we have, we cannot tackle insecurity,” Yar’Adua said.
Apart from the recruitment of security personnel, Yar’Adua said underdevelopment is also at the heart of rising insurgency in Nigeria.
“One of the challenges is that we always concentrate on the kinetic but the non-kinetic approach is very important.
“We do not have development at the grassroots and where these bandits go to recruit is in the rural areas,” he said.
However, Bwala, who spoke in an interview on Arise News Channel, said Tinubu should direct the service chiefs to ensure the rescue of the girls or face the risk of being sacked.
He said, “Mr. President can get these children back within 15 days, he should instruct the service chiefs to ensure they are rescued in 15 days or he relieves them of their duties.”
