By Emma Ogbuehi
Apparently flustered at the spiraling spate of insecurity in the country, the Senate has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, to as a matter of urgency, initiate a process of phasing out the current security chiefs and replacing them with new ones with new ideas and solutions. According to the senators, the service chiefs have over stayed their tenure and are no longer contributing meaningfully to tackling the menace.
The call was made on Tuesday during plenary amidst the upper chamber’s resolutions, sequel to the consideration of a motion, “Beheading of 67 farmers in Borno by Boko Haram Insurgents: Need for urgent decisive action.”
The motion was sponsored by Senator Kashim Shettima (APC – Borno Central).
The Senate in its nine-point resolutions prayed the President to take immediate steps to restructure, remodel and revamp the country’s entire security architecture and provide enough state-of-the-art weapons and equipment to effectively combat the belligerent power of the insurgents.
It also urged the President to immediately initiate probe into widespread allegations of corruption and leakages within the security structure and put mechanisms in place to foster transparency and ensure all resources meant and deployed for security are actually spent on the needs on ground.
In addition, the upper chamber called on the Federal Government to aggressively explore multilateral and bilateral options of partnership with the neighbouring nations of Chad, Niger and Cameroons towards reviving and strengthening the Multinational Joint Task Force and finding a lasting solution to the scourge of insurgency in the Lake Chad region.
It also urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, recruit at least 10,000 Civilian JTF, versatile with the local terrain in Borno as Agro-Rangers under the aegis of the NCDSC to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
The Senate also directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry; and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to provide succour and psychological support to the bereaved families.
While calling on the Federal Government to undertake recruitment of more personnel into the Armed Forces, the Upper Chamber advocated proper welfare for security personnel fighting in the frontlines and give prime attention to the compensation and welfare of fallen soldiers as that would boost the soldiers’ morale and aid their concentration.
It also called on the Federal and State Governments to adequately address all immediate and remote causes of insecurity in the nation, which must include comprehensive packages on education, employment and other social vices.
Shettima who initiated the motion under Order 42 and 52, noted that Borno State has been the epicenter of the despicable activities of Boko Haram for over decade during which a conservative estimate of 40,000 people – mostly unarmed civilians – were brutally murdered, 2.5 million people displaced from their homes and farms, property worth trillions of naira wantonly destroyed and over 7 million people – mostly women and children – plunged into dire humanitarian needs.
He added that the fight to control the border axis of the North-Eastern part of this country has claimed thousands of lives (Military and Civilian alike), stressing that the fallen men and women of the military, police and CJTF are National Heroes that must be remembered, prayed for and care extended to their loved ones till the end of time.