Senate President Ahmad Lawan yesterday decried the security challenges in Nigeria and said any of the security chiefs found short of expectations, after the support provided by the government, “should be shown the way out “if he refuses to go”.
This, according to him, is “because the lives of Nigerians are so precious and therefore must be more important than any other considerations or sentiments.”
Lawan was addressing State House reporters after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the National Assembly was ready to receive a supplementary budget to tackle the security challenges, including the recruitment of more personnel in various security agencies in the country.
He said the resources must be provided to empower the security agencies to fight the Boko Haram in the northeast, banditry and other security challenges across the country.
Lawan, who said the security situation in the country, especially in the northern part of the country, required that more resources be given to the security agencies, emphasised that the service chiefs must sit up and address the issues within timeline.
He said: “We can’t just go on without any time frame for dealing with these issues.
“The country is facing very deep and serious security challenges and I’ve come to discuss with Mr. President what we discussed previously that we should do whatever it takes to improve the security situation in the country.
“In the Senate, we believe we need to provide more resources for recruitment by the security agencies: Army, the Navy, Air Force, Police, immigration, the paramilitary generally.
“We need to have more manpower or personnel and this is not something you get on platter of gold. Whoever wants to make an omelette will break an egg.”
He said the current crisis in the All Progressives Congress must not be allowed to degenerate as the stability of the ruling party “means the stability of Nigeria.”
He expressed optimism that all leaders across the country would embrace reconciliation and resolve the crisis in the next few days.
He said: “But I also had the opportunity to talk to my president and my leader about the challenges in the APC. I believe we’ve to deal with these challenges…So, I believe we’ve to sort this out and that’ll make our work even better and easier when we’ve a stable party because the party is supposed to be part of the apparatus of running government. We’re supposed to run or operate or implement or execute the manifesto of the party.
