Reps to ensure accountability in security spending ― Benson

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Defence, Honourable Babajimi Benson, on Sunday, assured that the House that the Committee would work to ensure accountability and prudence in government spending in the area of security in the Ninth National Assembly.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Honourable Benson, who is representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State also assured all security agencies of the Committee’s readiness to work and support them in their frantic efforts at ensuring adequate security in the country.

He, however, pointed out that the security agencies must live up to the expectations of Nigerians to protect their lives and property in order to justify the huge resources being invested into the sector BT the present administration.

The lawmaker said that the call became necessary because of the enormous tasks before both Committee and the nation’s security agencies in putting an end to current insurgency in the country.

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According to him, “the committee is ready to give the Security Agencies the necessary support they may need,¸anytime from now, following the decision of the House to provide special fund to be approved by the National Assembly outside the national budget for the Federal Government to continue the fight against insecurity.”

This decision, he said, followed revelations from a security meeting between the leadership of the House and the service chiefs, held on Tuesday, September 23 2019.

Honourable Benson promised that in the next four years of the 9th House, his Committee would ensure robust engagements with security agencies, which would result in achieving set goals.

According to him, “I want to call on the security agencies to be ready to cooperate with us as a committee. We are here to work for Nigerians, to ensure the protection of their lives and property. Of course, the security of the people is paramount, that is why we call on the security agencies to cooperate with us.

“On our part, we will work assiduously to ensure that all the operational needs of the security agencies are met through adequate budgetary provisions. This is a new era, and Nigerians will not accept anything less than good results from us all.

“We will also ensure adequate and attentive oversight, especially of the 2019 budget so that we can evaluate the progress of work for ourselves and come up with the necessary ways of improving things as we prepare to receive the 2020 budget.

“I, therefore, enjoin all the security agencies under the House Committee on Defence to be up and doing. They should be as open as possible to us as parliamentarians, and we would do the same to them.

“We are not unmindful of the enormous tasks ahead of us and the high expectations of Nigerians on us. We have no reason not to deliver. We must get things right as far as security is concerned in this country.

“We acknowledge that the military needs the support of every sector of the society and we all, from traditional rulers, the media, and citizens, have a critical role to play in assisting the country achieve a secured society”.