Lawmaker Urges State Of Emergency On Security

Member representing Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia in the National Assembly, Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejiochi has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency on security.

Onyejiocha made the call in an interview with newsmen in her Isuochi country home, while reacting to the spate of bombings in different parts of the country.

She specifically condemned the Christmas Day bomb blast that killed scores of worshippers in a Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger.

“The bomb blast is sad and it is disturbing that people will go to a church to worship God and come out dead.

“The dastardly act should be condemned by every Nigerian,” she said, adding that “the president should declare a state of emergency on security in Nigeria”.

Onyejiocha also charged the Federal Government “to be proactive,” describing last Sunday’s incident as “a wake up call”.

She also admonished security agencies in the country to be alert to their responsibilities.

She described bombing as alien to Nigeria but would not subscribe to the idea of any external assistance in Nigeria’s effort to arrest the situation.

The legislator contended that the nation’s security agencies were capable of arresting the phenomenon if given the necessary assistance by the government.

“The government has to go an extra mile to be able to do enough to tackle the problem of insecurity in the country,” she said.

Onyejiocha, who is the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, also spoke on the current efforts by the government to address the problem facing the sector.

She noted that “there is a lot of decay in the aviation sector,” adding that the money allotted to it in the 2012 Appropriation was grossly inadequate.

She gave the hint that the house might review the allocation upward in order to successfully address the problem and make the sector more efficient.

She said she sponsored five bills that got to the third reading in the last assembly, adding that she would re-introduce three of them that were not assented to.

She said she had been able to attract some projects to her constituency, namely solar energy and school blocks and had striven to give her constituency an effective representation in the house.

Onyejiocha, who was home for the Christmas celebration, said she distributed a variety of season’s gifts to her constituents, especially the widows and under-privileged, describing the gesture as an annual event.