. Mulls law on hunting to nip repeat of Uromi 16
The Senate on Tuesday proposed a national security summit to find solutions to the killings, banditry, kidnappings and insurgency raving the country.
Senators admitted during plenary that none of the geopolitical zones could be said to be completely safe today, a development they warned must be addressed immediately.
The two-day summit will draw participation from different stakeholders, including security agent heads and state governors.
Senators took the decision following a motion moved by Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo-South), drawing attention to the daily loss of lives in Nigeria.
Though the lawmakers agreed that insecurity had become a “global” issue, Nigeria has been caught in the mix as manifested by insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and killings herders’ menace.
“As a result, insecurity across Nigeria has become pervasive, impacting on both urban and rural areas, where banditry, ransom for kidnappings, and terrorism are pressing issues across the country as well as other violent crimes”, Jimoh told his colleagues as they debated the motion.
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Incidentally, the National Assembly has held such summits since the 7th Assembly with the recommendations rarely implemented.
The lack of implementation of past summit reports was the point raised by senators Enyinanya Abaribe, Adamu Aliero and Abdul Ningi, who advised the Senate against embarking on waste of funds to organise another talk shop.
“What we have to do urgently in my opinion, is to sit with our security chiefs.
“Let our security committees interrogate them; what have they been doing, what are their challenges? These are not questions that a security summit can answer”, Ningi said.
On his part, Abaribe called for the political will to tackle insecurity in Nigeria, challenging senators to come forward and say they do not know the causes of insecurity in their communities.
However, the consensus of opinions and backed by the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, was to hold the summit to allow stakeholders across board to offer suggestions.
The resolution was taken amid another security-related decision of the Senate seeking to pass a law to regulate hunting in Nigeria.
This is to ensure that hunting takes place as a business with operational guidelines, including proper identification of hunters, among other requirements.
The proposal came as senators revisited the recent killing of 16 hunters in Uromi, Edo State, who were mistaken for kidnappers.
It followed a motion titled, “Uromi Killings and Government’s Response”, and moved by a lawmaker from Kano State, Sen. Suleiman Kawu, who called for concerted efforts by governments, security agencies and operators to prevent a repeat of similar incidents in the future.
Akpabio, while commenting on the development, asked the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin, to come up with a bill on regulating hunting in Nigeria.
Akpabio said, “Give us a proposed bill to regulate hunting as a business in Nigeria.
“We should propose that when hunters move into a particular state, they should report to the police so that they can be properly identified.
“They can also carry means of identification so that they can move freely and conduct their business of hunting.
“Vigilantes should also be properly regulated.”
The lawmakers again sympathised with the families of the victims and particularly commended the governments of Edo and Kano states for their prompt intervention to sue for peace and prevent further bloodletting.
The sixteen hunters were killed on March 27, 2025 as they were traveling from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Kano to observe the Sallah festivities when
were intercepted and lynched by vigilantes who mistook them kidnappers.
Meanwhile, the Senate set up a committee to oversee the implementation of the State of Emergency proclaimed on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu.
Akpabio announced the committee as soon as senators reconvened in Abuja on Tuesday after the Easter and Sallah recess.
The 19-member committee is chaired by the Senate Leader, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele.
Its main assignment is to monitor the implementation of the emergency rule and report to the Senate accordingly.
The House of Representatives already has a similar committee in place, which the Speaker of the Green Chamber, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, inaugurated on April 15.
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