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.”