By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Senate yesterday postponed its meeting with the service chiefs and heads of the various security agencies to Tuesday next week.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said the postponement was to accommodate the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, and the Ministers in charge of the Defence, Interior, and Police Affairs Ministries in the engagement.
The Senate had on Tuesday last week through a resolution adopted from a collective motion on insecurity, summoned the Service Chiefs and heads of security agencies for grilling in plenary.
The planned interface was announced by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru, on Tuesday, and was specifically fixed for yesterday and today behind closed session.
However, the Senate in plenary yesterday announced that the interface could not hold because the NSA and the CDS were not part of the military and security chiefs in attendance.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, who made the announcement said an apology was received from Ribadu on his absence but that he and the Chief of Defence Staff must be present at the very important session.
He added that apart from Ribadu and Musa, the Senate had also resolved to include other security heads in the planned meeting.
Those included in the planned session now postponed to next Tuesday are the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawale; Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Geidam; and the Minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan Ibrahim.
Others are, the Minister of Interior, Hon Olubunmi Tunji Ojo; and the Director General of National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
Akpabio in his remarks, commended the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Taoreed Lagbaja; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar; the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Director General of Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, for honouring the Senate’s invitation.
He said, “We thank you all for honouring our invitation for the very important interface on the way out of the lingering security crisis at hand. However, due to the absence of the NSA and the Chief of Defence Staff, the interactive session will no longer be held today.
“Besides, the Senate in its wisdom, has decided to add other public officers whose offices are connected to security matters, to be part of the interactive session.
“Clerk of the Senate has been directed to write them ahead of Tuesday next week, now fixed for the session.
“We need their presence along with those of you here today, for holistic and comprehensive brainstorming on the problem at hand and required solution,” he said.
*CSO seeks traditional rulers’ involvement in the fight against insecurity
Meanwhile, the Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, (CEPEJ) has urged the Federal Government to empower traditional rulers in the fight against insecurity.
The group said considering constitutional roles for traditional institutions in the nation’s security architecture, would help in the fight against insecurity.
It said doing so would foster national economic growth and stability.
The National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Chief Mulade Sheriff, stated this at a news conference addressed by the group in Abuja on the state of insecurity in Nigeria, yesterday.
Sheriff said, “Given the high level of insecurity in Nigeria in recent times, accentuated by the spate of killings and kidnappings across the country, we hereby call on the government at all levels, and state apparatuses to consider the role of traditional institutions in the nation’s security architecture, in the fight against insecurity, to foster national economic growth and stability.
“CEPEJ is a foremost civil society organisation with over 20 years experience and impeccable track record across the nation on peacebuilding and peaceful coexistence, human rights protection, effective security intelligence gathering, and environmental justice advocacy,
“One of the surest means to fight and end insecurity in Nigeria is to engage the traditional rulers with the responsibility of ensuring that their respective domains are free from insecurity issues.
“It is important to note here that traditional rulers, as custodians of culture and traditions in their kingdoms, are more familiar and abreast with their domains and environments. This places them in a strategic position as leaders who can effectively take charge and control their areas.
“Therefore, they should be given the responsibility to protect lives and property in their domains in collaboration with security agencies, particularly the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
“I strongly believe that such collaboration will go a long way towards bringing the security challenges under control.
“It is also worthy of note that bandits, kidnappers, and other criminal elements hide in a locality/place, within the domain of a traditional ruler, where they carry out their nefarious activities which have become an international embarrassment to Nigeria. The insecurity issue equally affects the country’s economic growth.”
Sheriff said the group was determined to forward to the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review, a memorandum on the need to empower monarchs to have security votes to tackle insecurity in their domain.
He said, “In the fight against insecurity, traditional rulers, as stakeholders, should be given the authority to also secure their kingdoms against political violence.
“This means that security votes should be allocated to them, as they are in better positions to fight against insecurity in their kingdoms if the country’s leadership truly wants to end insecurity in the country.
“In other words, traditional institutions in the country should be strengthened if Nigeria must be insecurity-free to achieve a stable economy that will attract international and local investors.”
He said the Federal Government should take proactive steps to ensure that traditional rulers are at the forefront of the fight against insecurity nationwide.
“Efforts should be made to bring them on board and allow them to play their parts towards rescuing our dear country from criminals and restoring peace in line with Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda. No price is too much to pay for peace,” he said.
