Senate, security chiefs meet over insecurity

The Senate leadership is currently having a marathon conference with all the Service Chiefs because they are alarmed by the recurrent episodes of insecurity with widespread kidnapping, deaths, and willful destruction of property by terrorists around the nation.

The level of insecurity was scary, according to Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the president of the Senate, who spoke to security chiefs before the meeting behind closed doors.

Given that the attacks have increased in frequency and intensity, Lawan claimed that there is no evidence to suggest that the massive investments in security are paying off. This suggests that there is no security at all in the country.

Lawan's comment was made against the backdrop of the terrorists' deadly siege of the Federal Capital Territory.

The Senate leadership requested the conference because security challenges have taken on a more worrying dimension.

"The current scenario is terrible since there is no longer anywhere to run or hide because the FCT, the seat of government, is now under attack," said Lawan.

“The security concerns has crippled the economy and key sectors, notably Agriculture, describing it as unfortunate.”

The President of the Senate who noted that there was 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 who attributed the low national revenue to crude oil theft and dwindling revenue are key areas of concern to Nigerians, 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.