House of Representatives has urged the National Security Adviser, Service Chiefs, Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies to re-jig security architecture in the country.https://scudnewsng.com
Representative Saidu Abdullahi (APC-Niger) made the call after the adoption of a motion on the floor of the House on Thursday in Abuja, following the kidnap of 136 Islamic school children in Niger State.
In the motion, Abdullahi said this was with a view to putting in place effective strategies and counter measures to curb escalating insecurity across Niger State.
He said in the past few months, Niger State had been making critical headlines in the news due to the worsening activities of bandits, kidnappers and Boko Haram elements.
He said there was a mass abduction of about 136 children from Mallam Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina, Rafi LGA, Niger State recently, two weeks after the abduction; “the children are still in captivity.”
He expressed worry that the criminal elements had been torturing and killing innocent people; destroying critical infrastructure and property.
He said the criminal elements had also been carting away food stuffs, rustling cattle and domestic animals, thereby instilling fears, tensions and anxiety in the minds of people across the state and the country.
He said huge investments of the administration in agricultural sector had been frustrated as the farmers could no longer farm for living for fear of attacks.
“The aftermath is aggravation of food insecurity and threats to the peaceful co-existence and socio-economic stability of the country.”
He said bandits now struck mostly in the day and operate unchallenged by the security agents, adding that their mode of operations remained the same.
According to him, they ride on motorcycles with not less than two to three of them on each motorcycle and fully armed.
He said the operations of the military, Nigeria Police, Department of State Security Service and others in the affected LGAs and the states in tackling the different internal security threats had not yielded the desired results.
The House therefore called on security agencies to deploy drones and helicopters in the insecurity prone areas of Niger State to identify illegal camps of bandits to defeat them permanently.
The House also urged the Federal Government to develop a mechanism that would ensure effective interagency collaboration, coordination and mutual synergy.
The House called on National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to undertake an on-the-spot assessment of the affected communities.
According to the House, this is with a view to determining the extent of the destruction and providing relief to the affected persons.
