Senate on Tuesday at plenary resolved into a closed session to take national security briefing from Service Chiefs and Ministers
By Haruna Salamid
Senate on Tuesday at plenary resolved into a closed session to take national security briefing from Service Chiefs and Ministers on general insecurity situation across the country.
Senate resolution followed adoption of a motion moved by Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), after it suspended its rule to admit visitors into the chamber.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio said in addition to the Service Chiefs, the upper chamber decided to invite some ministers supervising the finances of the security agencies such as the Minister of Finance and the coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Yemi Edun.
“We can talk security, but we need money also to procure equipment and to do a lot of things. So their presence here will give us a lot of insights into how funding will be handled to ensure the security of lives and property.
“Basically the Senate decided to take this option for us to have this interaction because of the various petitions that we have received from our constituents. As part of our oversight function, we decided to do this through the Committee of the Whole.
“We need to hear directly from you and then brief the people, if there is any cause for alarm and if there is no cause for alarm we will also know. If there is anything you want the National Assembly or the Senate to do, we will do, working closely with our partners in the House of Representatives.
The visitors admitted into the chamber included the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Ministers of Defence, Police Affairs, Interior and Finance in addition to the Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, DG DSS, and DG, NIA.
According to Akpabio, the reasons for the invitation was already known to the invitees, saying that senate decided to take the option of having the interaction because of the various petitions from constituents.
The Senate has since gone into a closed session with the Service Chiefs and the Ministers.
