BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
THE Senate appears to have made excuses for the military’s inability to crush the insurgency, banditry and kidnapping, among other challenges, that have been facing the country over the past decades.
This is even as the Service Chiefs have reassurred Nigerians that the military will soon pull the string that will lift the country out of its present security quagmire.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, who made the excuses when the lawmakers hosted the service chiefs recently for about four hours, in a closed-door session, in Abuja, said the armed forces had not performed well because they lacked adequate resources to confront the terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.
He charged them to avail the parliament of information they considered as prerequisites for better performance.
“The military has not achieved the optimum as expected by Nigerians. Once again, trust us with what you think will help us as a parliament to help the cause of Armed forces and other security agencies to perform better because you haven’t achieved the optimum and I can attribute that to inadequate resources,” Lawan said.
In order to get the best from the military Chiefs to enable the Senate render the necessary assistance, the Senate President added, “Let me quickly assure all of you that indeed this Senate or the entire National Assembly is and will remain a partner in progress with you.
“On behalf of my colleagues, I want to commend our armed forces and other security agencies for fighting the myriad of security challenges across the country.”
Lawan lamented that the seemingly unending war against terrorism, which had bedeviled the entire country had cost some of the soldiers their lives, adding, “In the process, some have given up their lives. We appreciate what you are doing because we know that you are doing your best with what you have at hand.”
He assured the military and the entire Nigerian populace that the challenges faced were taken seriously and extremely by the Parliament.
