President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, disclosed, yesterday, that the Senate may, next week, consider the report of an Ad-Hoc Committee on Security Challenges with a view to finding solutions to Nigeria’s security problems.
Lawan made the disclosure during the plenary sequel to the consideration of a motion brought to the floor by Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (APC – Adamawa Central).
The Senate had on January 29, 2020, set up the Ad-Hoc Committee chaired by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, to interface with the security agencies on the level of insecurity in the country and report back to the Upper Chamber within two weeks.
According to Lawan, the Senate would engage with the Executive arm of government on the resolutions of the ad-hoc committee as contained in its report.
He added that the Upper Chamber would also work closely with the House of Representatives and Nigerian citizens towards ensuring that solutions are found to the lingering security problems in the country.
Lawan said, “The Senate discussed and debated so much on the insecurity in the country and set up an ad-hoc committee under the leadership of the Senate leader.
“The committee is working very hard; we are trying to look for solutions to the insecurity bedevilling the country. We are not going to rest on our oars until we are able to provide solutions.
“This is the essence of our being in government. Of course, it will require that we work with the House of Representatives and the Executive, as well as the citizens because I believe that the citizens have to be taken into confidence in the fight against insecurity.
“So, we will not waste any time, as soon as the report is ready, I believe by next week, probably the report will be ready. We are going to look at the report of the ad-hoc committee and take those important and very viable resolutions, and engage with the Executive arm of government.
“I think we are on the same page with the Executive arm of government, everybody is worried, and we will do whatever it takes, and I normally say, if we have to invest so much money, so be it, because there’s nothing more important than life, even infrastructure.
“Life is more important than anything, so, we need to protect the lives of Nigerians who have sent us here,” Lawan added.
Earlier, Senator Aishatu Ahmed, while coming under a point of order on matter of urgent public importance, bemoaned attacks on Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State by an insurgent group armed with seven gun-trucks and motorcycles on February 21, 2020.
According to the lawmaker, “three soldiers were killed in the dastardly attacks, while properties worth millions of naira were burnt or destroyed, including: public hospital, school, telecommunication facilities, police stations and so on”.
She added that “the Garkida crisis, which has led to the destruction of lives and propriety, was planned by insurgents to have a religious connotation considering that churches and residences of some prominent indigenes were burnt, an act aimed at destroying the foundation of peaceful co-existence among Garkida community and Adamawa State as a whole.”
The lawmaker warned, “As a result of this, the urgent need to take more drastic actions in the face of such affront on the national security architecture, the region, and indeed, the entire nation is long overdue.
“In view of the enormity of the situation, the Federal Government needs to put more innovative measures in place to frontally confront these challenges.”
Consequently, the Senate, in a three-point resolution, urged the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, to re-establish a military command base in Garkida, and also all major settlements bordering the Sambisa forest.
The Upper Chamber called on the North East Development Commission to immediately embark on rehabilitation of public and religious institutions destroyed and provide relief materials to victims of the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the Senate, yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “immediately” reconstitute the Federal Character Commission (FCC) in line with extant laws.
The call followed a motion sponsored by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, on the “urgent need to reconstitute the Federal Character Commission.”
The Upper Chamber noted that the tenure of the present commission had elapsed and that failure to reconstitute the commission would amount to a “breach of the Act establishing the Federal Character Commission and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
In his contribution, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, noted that the FCC was one of the national tools that work to ensure equity, unity, fairness and justice in terms of employment distribution across all the 36 states and the FCT.
“It is very important we have the full complement of the commission in place, and I believe that with this resolution, it will expedite action to reconstitute the membership of the commission,” Lawan said.
In his lead debate, Abaribe noted that Act No. 34 of 1996 and Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provided for the establishment of the Federal Character Commission (FCC).
He said that the subsection 1, 2 and 3 of the Act stipulate the establishment, membership and tenure of office of the chairman and members of the commission.
Abaribe said that Section 3(1) of the Act states that the chairman and members of the commission shall hold office for a period of five years in the first instance and for a further term of five years on such terms and conditions as may be specified in their letters of appointment.
He added: “Further aware that (the) Federal Character Commission body has lapsed since 2018 as against its Act.
“Observes that since 2018, the Federal Character Commission has been run by an acting chairman, who has now become a sole administrator.
“Further observes that no provisions of the Act or the Constitution stipulate the need for the office of a sole administrator or an acting chairman.
“Note that the Federal Character Commission (FCC) has been a tool for unity, equitable formula distribution and good governance of the nation,” Abaribe said.
He insisted that failure to reconstitute the commission amount to a constitutional breach of the Act establishing the FCC.