Senate backs Buhari’s plan to fight terrorists with drones

• Summit canvasses increased funding for military, police
• El-Rufai in closed-door meeting with security chiefs, monarchs

The Senate has vowed to give all necessary legislative backing to the executive to tackle insecurity with every means, including the deployment of special drones and sourcing funds outside the budget.It also disclosed that it would support the executive’s plan to launch the national emergency centre with specific numbers.

The Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, spoke yesterday after the debate on the urgent need for security agencies to intervene in the increased rate of kidnapping in the riverine areas of Ogun East Senatorial District and securing the waterways. Senator Ramoni Mustapha (Ogun East) moved the motion. After the debate on the motion, Lawan shared his experience, in the last one month while holding regular meetings with security agencies, ministers and a host of others.

“I have said it here that no amount of resources would be too much for combating insecurity because we need to secure our people; we need to secure this country,” he said. The senators resolved to tell the executive to direct the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to instruct Ogun State Commissioner of Police to beef up the strength of his men to effectively secure the affected areas.

Meanwhile, the North East Security Summit (NESS) has called for increased funding for the military and police to overcome security challenges.The decade-long Boko Haram terrorism has claimed many lives and property with the displacement of over 7.7 million people in the North East.

The call was made in the 11-point communiqué issued yesterday at end of the summit held at Government House, Maiduguri, Borno State.Increased funding, according to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who convened the summit, is to provide more support and logistics to fight insecurity in region.

His words, “Military operations at the fringes of Lake Chad, currently harbouring remnants of Boko Haram terrorists, need to be intensified and sustained.“The police, as part of their constitutional mandate of protecting people’s lives and property, should take proactive measures against drug abuse, banditry and kidnapping, among others, by using modern technology.”

In the same vein, Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has gone into a security meeting with House of Representatives and House of Assembly members, security chiefs, traditional and religious leaders. The meeting was coming barely 24 hours after he donated 84 patrol vans to security agents in the state, where he expressed worry that banditry was on the increase in the state, even as community tensions were under control.