Personnel of the Nigerian Military, Police, paramilitary agencies and all other security outfits may be banned from using the train service to commute between Abuja to Kaduna and vice versa.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan shared this thought at plenary while rounding off debate on the spate of insecurity in the country and possible measures to be adopted to arrest the situation.
According to him one of the unusual measures to be adopted would be to force the military and other security agencies to use the Abuja- Kaduna expressway as a way to clear the route of armed bandits.
“You recall that before we went on recess, I mention that we need to return to that report of the ad-hoc committee to review the architecture of the security in Nigeria which the eight Senate set up.
“In addition to giving something by way of maybe a public hearing to ensure that we review the security architecture and structures today the way they are designed, I do not think that we are getting the best of them.
“We need to give the security agencies some more funds but insist on accountability. It is not enough to give them money, we must see how they utilise this money; we must insist on that.
“If we do that, we must also insist that uniform men must not join the train because they are the ones that are supposed to protect us.
“The Military, the Police and all these paramilitary should allow ordinary people to use the train. Let them ply the road because that will clear the roads for other road users to go on the road” Lawan stated.
Lawan’s position was sequel to the motion by Senator Dino Melaye through a motion called on the Senate to adopt unusual measures to curb the escalating incidences of kidnapping and murder on the Abuja-Lokoja road.
Dino noted that the kidnappers and armed robbers have taken over the road posing serious security threats to the people who have become helpless and urged the senate not to allow the motion end in the ritual of resolutions without compliance.
He said if the security situation does not improve, it will undermine the efforts by the federal government attract foreign investments.
His words: “It is time for his senate to enforce what I call citizen diplomacy, where the life of every Nigerian will matter to the Senate, the security agencies and to the executive arm of government.
“The time has come more than ever before for us, on the top of our voices, call on our security agencies and the Federal Government to save the lives and property of Nigeria’s.
“It is becoming traditional, it is becoming ritualistic, the issue of kidnap not only on the Abuja-Lokoja road but in every part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We must make this country safe.
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“If this country is not safe, the millions of dollars and jet-setting lifestyle of individuals looking for investors will never yield positive dividends or positive concomitant effects. We must as a Senate stand to defend the common man and Nigerians indeed.
The President of the Senate agreed and tasked the committees on security and communications to interface with the ministry and their heads to ensure compliance.
According to Lawan “This is one motion that will lead to resolutions that our committees that oversee security agencies will take it up. We will take it up also with the executive arm of the government. Also, our committee on communications should take it up with the ministry of communications.
“Thank God the minister of communication has stated willingness to block those lines that have not been properly registered.
“The bandits use telephone lines to negotiate. It means that there will always be a lead to where or who they are.
“So we need our committee on communications to take it up with the ministry of communications, at the last count I learnt two million lines have been blocked.
“Our committee on security must actually ensure that these security agencies will do something. Maybe we will need to be a bit radical.
Earlier in his submission, Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe said there was no road between Abuja and Kaduna anymore as it has been abandoned by security men who prefer to use the train services for fear of being attacked by the bandits.
He said there is difficulty coming to terms with the insecurity situation and stressed that the Senate must ensure the security agencies know their responsibility to Nigerians and live up to their bidding.
Abaribe said: “I have a big difficulty with this issue of what do we do apart from always getting up and making this presentation and assuming the executive, whose responsibility it is, to give effect to our resolutions.
“Senator Dino has let us know the normal thing, maybe we need to now start to think outside the box, what is that abnormal thing that we will do?
“It is not just in Kogi, not just in that stretch, its same in several other stretch in Nigeria.
“Even those of us who have access to security do not use the Abuja – Kaduna road which is very near to us here, we also continue to scramble to get the train ticket, which means that in some part of this country, we have yielded actually to the bandits.
“We also heard that the state government engaged the bandits, negotiate and even got some very disturbing news of Nigerians kidnapped being sold into slavery in another land. That is just mind-blowing.
“Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, we can always say to those whose responsibility it is to keep us safe today that they have a responsibility to keep us safe,” Abaribe stated.
The Senate minority leader recalled that in 2008,personnel of the military had betrayed public trust in Abia by helping the kidnappers after they had initially reduced the rate of the kidnapping.
“Sometime in 2008, we raised the motion of this kind on kidnapping in Abia State. The President agreed with us to send soldiers and they actually helped to reduce kidnapping that time.
“All of a sudden,we noticed that soldiers are helping the kidnappers, which then means that we were in a very big and difficult situation.”
In his contribution, Senator Matthew Urhoghide Edo South enjoined the senate to urgently legislate an anti-kidnapping law for the country.
He said a national anti-kidnapping law would contain the rate of the crime and bring it down when the people are sure of the consequence of their action.