Members of the House of Representatives
Committee on Army went into a closed-door meeting with security chiefs
in the country on Monday over rising insecurity cases across the
Federation.
In attendance at the four-hour meeting
were the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; the acting
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris; and other heads of
security agencies, including the Department of State Services.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Rima Shawulu, presided over the deliberations behind closed doors at the National Assembly.
Buratai was represented at the session
by Col. Nonye Ebulue, while the IG was represented by a Deputy
Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Joshak Habila.
The officials submitted the briefs of Buratai and Idris respectively to the committee.
Shawulu did not disclose the details of the meeting after it rose on the excuse of security reasons.
However, The PUNCH learnt that the security heads briefed the committee on their “operational strategies” to contain the situation.
One National Assembly official, who
spoke on the discussions at the session, said, “Of serious concern is
the spate of kidnappings in the country. Hardly a day passes without one
person being kidnapped.
“It has become a national embarrassment and questions were raised on intelligence gathering and measures to address the problem.
“The Army, the Police, the DSS and other
agencies stated their challenges, but of more importance to the
committee is how they are working to arrest the situation.
“They assured the committee that
Nigerians would see positive results soon, given the availability of
funds from the 2016 budget to improve on operational requirements.”