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Terrorism: Senate Tells Tinubu To Review Strategy
The Senate yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu to direct a thorough review and evaluation of the strategies employed by security agencies in the region, and consider the deployment of additional security personnel/special task force to the identified hotspots to ensure the protection of lives and properties.
The Upper Chamber also asked the relevant security agencies to collaborate with the respective State governments, local communities, traditional leaders, and stakeholders to gather intelligence and enhance security operations in the affected areas.
It further urged the President to direct the establishment of a task force to evaluate the effectiveness and implications of negotiating with bandits, conducting a thorough analysis of the short-term gains versus the long-term consequences of such actions.
The Senate also urged the Military, Security Agencies to be proactive and innovative in their strategies to secure farmlands so that farmers may return to their farms, thereby ensuring increased food production and food security, thus mitigating against the ever rising food inflation currently being experienced in the country.
Resolutions of the Senate yesterday were sequel to a motion titled, “Urgent Need to Review Security Approach in Addressing Banditry Attacks in Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna and Kebbi States in the Northwest of Nigeria.”
It was was sponsored by Senator Sani Zangon Daura, APC Katsina North and co- sponsored by thirteen others.
Presenting the motion, Senator Daura explained that Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa and Kebbi States, had been plagued by escalating banditry attacks, resulting in loss of lives, kidnapping for ransom, displacement of communities and disruption of socio-economic activities.
Daura who noted that the State Governments had allocated significant funds to augment the operations of the security agencies in combating banditry and restoring peace in the region, recalled the collaboration and coordination among the State governments, security agencies and relevant stakeholders, to develop holistic and sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by banditry in the North West geopolitical zone.
He urged the Senate to take cognizance of the fact that the Governors of the States in the affected region affirmed their commitment to supporting an acceptable and workable initiatives that would promote peace, security and development in the region and pledged to work towards fostering a safe and secure environment for their people.
Daura expressed concerns that the incessant banditry attacks on communities in North West region would significantly impact food production and agricultural activities, jeopardising food security and livelihoods of the people in affected States of the region, especially in the present raining season.
In his contribution, Senator Waziri Tambuwal, PDP, Sokoto South who called on the Federal Government to declare state of emergency in concerned states to enable security agencies to decisively deal with the terrorists, urged the security agencies to be more coordinated in their approach towards tacking the terrorists operating across the country, particularly the North West and North Central.
In his contribution, the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, PDP, Benue South, expressed concern that the Ninth Senate held security summit and came up with recommendations on how the menace of insecurity could be best addressed but nothing had been achieved from that.
Senator Mohammed Dandutse Muntari, APC, Katsina West, lamented that the bandits had taken over many places in the North West, warning that if nothing drastic was done, they might overrun the whole country.
A former Leader of the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya (Kebbi North), in his contribution, lamented that the entire North West and North Central were under serious fire in the hands of terrorists, saying that no single Senatorial District in Kebbi state was free from banditry.
Similarly, Senator Abdul Ningi, decried a situation where only about ten thousand bandits were tormenting over two hundred Nigerians, pointing out that there were reports of complexity in the menace of insecurity among security operatives, making it impossible for the terrorists to be wiped out.
Ningi who urged the President to consider giving time frame to appointments of service chiefs, said, “The President is the appointing authority. I think he must give a time frame for his Service Chiefs when appointing them.
“There must be a timeline to IGP and others when they are being appointed. 10,000 bandits can’t be holding over 250million Nigerians to ransome.”
Ningi who accused some senior security chiefs of compromise, said, “We need to sit down with Mr. President and give him the information that he doesn’t have. We must give them what they needed, there must be timeline. Once they know that they can lose their jobs, they will sit up.
“I have my fear that one of these days, if care isn’t taken, one of these states will be taken over by bandits.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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