Senate in close session with security chiefs, ministers over insecurity
By Our Correspondent
The insecurity across the country has again received the attention of the Senate as it went into a close session to take security briefings from Service Chiefs and Ministers at it’s plenary on Tuesday.
Senate resolved to suspend one of its rules to admit visitors into the chamber by adopting a motion moved by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central).
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in his opening remarks 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 the coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Yemi Edun.
“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.
According to Akpabio, 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 over insecurity in the country.
The Senate has since gone into a closed session with the Service Chiefs and the Ministers.
