Why military, police perform poorly, by Senate

Minister tasks agencies on intelligence gathering

Senate, yesterday, blamed failure of the military and police to achieve optimum performance in the fight against insecurity on inadequate resources.

The upper chamber’s position was made known by its President, Ahmad Lawan, at the commencement of an interactive session with service chiefs, Inspector General of Police and heads of other security agencies.

In his welcome address, Lawan commended the armed forces for their efforts at tackling insecurity in the country, assuring the security institutions that the National Assembly would remain a partner in progress with them.

On the poor funding of the armed forces, the police and other security agencies, Lawan said: “You haven’t achieved the optimum and I can attribute that to inadequate resources. We appreciate what you are doing because we know that you are doing your best with what you have at hand.

“The National Assembly would remain in strong partnership with the armed forces. The challenges we face are being taken seriously and extremely by the parliament.

“Hardly a day passes without this Senate discussing one security incident or the other. And it has been so for many years, not only this session.”

The Senate president expressed optimism that at the end of the interaction, “we will see better ways and means of providing the necessary resources to enable our armed forces continue with national assignment of protecting the lives and property of citizens to stabilise our environment for economy to receive better investments for this country.”

IN a related development, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has charged paramilitary agencies under the ministry to step up efforts in intelligence gathering especially at the grassroots and border communities to combat rising insecurity.

He gave the charge during decoration of senior personnel of the agencies from the ranks of assistant controller-general, comptroller-general and commandant-general to deputy controller-general, comptroller-general and commandant-general, in Abuja, yesterday.

Aregbesola, who said it was difficult to believe that kidnappers and bandits were able to successfully move large numbers of people into bushes without anyone noticing, called on Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to protect and guard the nation’s borders.

According to him, intelligence gathering is key to tackling the security challenges facing the country, hence the need for renewed efforts at gathering relevant information, especially at the grassroots.

“Whenever there is a national discuss on internal security, the Interior Ministry is at the centre of it. Therefore, we must maximise grassroots penetration for intelligence gathering.

“At the centre of this grassroots penetration is the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) because they are well positioned in our communities and among civilians,” the minister said.