There are strong indications that Nigerians will soon heave a sigh of relief from trepidations caused by heightened insecurity as the security agencies are determined to put in more efforts at containing criminal elements.
This indication came after a four hours closed door deliberation between members of the Senate and heads of the nation’s security agencies held at the hallowed chamber of the Senate on Thursday.
The Service Chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor, the acting Inspector General of Police and heads of other national security agencies like the Department of State Security ( DSS) , National Intelligence Agency ( NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency gave the assurance.
After the meeting, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said submissions made by the security chiefs strongly indicated that the problems are being confronted headlong and that peace will soon be restored to every troubled parts of the country.
“At the closed door session the Senate had with the Service Chiefs , desire , design and determination of the various security agencies in addressing the security situation , were explained to the satisfaction of all Senators around.
“Challenges confronting them were also tabled as well as required interventions needed,” he said.
The President of the Senate had earlier before the closed door session lamented that though the security agencies are doing their best in containing the security situation in the country but optimal results have not been achieved due to inadequate resources.
“You are doing your best in providing security for Nigeria and Nigerians in an extremely difficult situation, the very reason this Parliament is ever ready to make the necessary interventions required.
“The Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, is ready to give expeditious consideration to whatever supplementary budget is presented by the executive in this regards because the environment must be stabilised for Nigeria to be a hub of foreign and local investments,” he said.
The Senate spokesperson , Senator Ajibola Basiru ( APC Osun Central) while shedding more light in a chat with the Senate Press Corps said: “after listening to the briefings, I personally became upbeat that a lot of work had gone into addressing the problem of insecurity and from the various perspectives that were brought into the discussion which is very frank, clear and without any form of duplicity, it became very clear that Nigerian security agencies are not only looking at the internal dimension of the challenge we have, we look at all ramifications both in terms of the political context, economic context and international context to the development.
“There were even perspectives as to what happened recently in Chad was also considered. So it is a very thorough discussion and I also believe that the forthrightness of the leadership of the security agencies showed the seriousness that they attached to that exercise.
“So, I believe that going forward, the confidence has been built between the security chiefs on one hand and the Nigerian parliament on the other hand and that would be a good signal of what we expect in the future”
The security chiefs were ushered into the Senate chamber at exactly 11.30am and came out around 3.25pm.
At the meeting were, Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen Leo Irabor, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff, Air Marshal Ishiaka Amao , Chief of Air Staff and Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff.
Others are; the Directors General of the Department of State Security (DSS), , Bichi Magaji,National Intelligence Agency, and the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Tuesday announced that the service chiefs and heads of security agencies would, on Thursday, appear before the Upper Chamber to brief it on efforts to address the spate of insecurity in the country.