Lawan: Expect a more secure Nigeria in two months

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has told Nigerians to look forward to a more secure environment in the country between now and the next two months.

Lawan spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.

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The senate president expressed optimism that the government is committed to restoring peace in all parts of the country before the rainy season to allow farmers and other citizens go about their normal lives in a secure environment.

He also expressed the readiness of the National Assembly to give quick consideration to the needed funds to purchase equipment for the Armed Forces.

“I’ve come to meet with Mr. President, to discuss the issue of security of our nation, and in fact, there is nothing more important today or more topical, than the security of Nigeria.

“We had a very extensive discussion on the security of all parts of Nigeria and how we should go about improving the situation, we all have roles to play. Nobody would like to see the kind of things that we experience in various parts of the country in the form of insecurity.

Political leaders

“As political leaders, we have responsibilities to our people and we cannot shy away from that, we have to get our people secured, we have to secure the environment for them to earn their means of livelihood, we’ll like to see our farmers go back to farms before the rainy season starts.

“This means we have to secure the rural parts of Nigeria as well as the urban centres because we need businesses to flourish.

“So, I believe that between now and probably the next two months, there will be a lot of activities to ensure that we recover and secure the environments for our people to lead a very normal life.

“We also believe that the government is headed in the right direction. You’ll recall that the National Economic Council approved of taking some funds from the Excess Crude Accounts with a view to giving more resources to our Armed Forces.

“This is a commendable effort and we are ready to help with appropriation to ensure that we acquire those security weapons for the armed forces of this country to end this insecurity in the northeast, in the northwest, in the southeast/South-south and southwest as well.

“We believe that this is also going to help empower and build the capacity of other security agencies like the police because the police need to be there.”

Traditional rulers

He underscored the importance of the role of traditional rulers as well as the federal, state, and local governments in promoting unity and peaceful co-existence among all Nigerians irrespective of tribes and geo-graphical locations across the country.