The National Assembly has expressed satisfaction with the new strategies adopted by the Nigerian Armed Forces and other security agencies in tackling insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, disclosed this in an interview with State House Correspondents after he met with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.
He said the massive surrender by members of the book haram terrorists group was a clear indication that the war against insurgency would soon be over. He however cautioned that the repentant insurgents should be properly screened.
He said: “We have seen mass surrender from Boko Haram members. I must say Boko Haram is coming to an end. Yes, I’m optimistic that boko haram not only boko haram, the insurgency because in addition to boko haram ISWAP, and probably other tangential groups like that, I’m sure the new strategy by the current leadership of the armed forces are working on boko haram heavy losses and probably have lost so many commanders. Some of them think they should just throw in the towel. Therefore, it’s one of those very successful stories for the fight against insurgency in the Northeast.
“We have asked for improvements in resources, we have asked for changing of guards in the area of those who are at the top of the Echelon of the security services, particularly the armed forces. And we have gotten that so I believe that this is one of the success stories. This is something that is real that is happening.
“What we need to do is to have a clearly defined national policy and how we deal with this. Because unless we have a strategy of dealing with this, we may be overwhelmed. And it could deny us the opportunity of getting the best out of this surrendering. What do we need to do? We have to be prepared for the humanitarian resources that we have to make available. We need to screen to ensure that those who are genuine and those who may just follow in for some reasons, but I don’t subscribe to the idea of saying forget about people who are surrendering all of them are criminals and the rest of it in the in the law of wars or something when somebody surrenders, you have something to surrender. And of course, maybe you’ll do some profiling and find out whether this is someone who’s genuine.
“So I believe that we should give people the benefit of the doubt. But we should also be very circumspect of those who may not be genuine in this, but we should accept people when they come and take the appropriate measures, and get the right strategies on how to deal with the integration of such people into the community. Don’t throw them just into the community like that, because you need to do some other things to ensure that everybody is sanitized, so to speak, before they are introduced into the society.”
2022 Budget
Senator Ahmed Lawan said his meeting with the President also touched on next year’s budget and the need to complete some legacy projects by the current administration.
“We also had discussions on the 2022 budget. We believe that the budget 2022 will be the icing on the cake so to speak, that is to say that we will have to make sufficient provision for the security agencies and also sufficient provisions for our legacy projects.
“We hope and our desire now is intending on what the presidency wants that is to ensure that the legacy projects completed by next year by the grace of God these are the major projects like the second Niger bridge, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway and so on and so forth, that these projects are completed within next year and Mr. President is able to commission them for Nigerians to benefit.
“These are projects that we have to make significant or sufficient provisions in the 2022 budget, so that we’re able to complete them. And they should be part of what will be part of the legacies of Mr. President, to this country in the area of infrastructure.
“But of course, bigger legacies will be that the orientation of Nigerians is such that they are free to say whatever they want to say about their government, about their leaders, and so on and so forth. And that we have really established ourselves as an administration, people who say anything or everything about the President about the administration about members of the National Assembly, they call us names. And this is part of the intangible dividends of democracy. But we are determined to ensure that the space is wide open for everybody to say whatever he wants to say. But I will advise that don’t say things that are bad because people are inhabited. And recently somebody said $10 million was given to the speaker and the senate president to give to members of the National Assembly to pass 3%. What do you call it? 3% for host communities’ development, which is funny, but also very serious. I really want to take this opportunity to take exceptions to those kinds of unwarranted unproven false and fake information being fed to the Nigerian public. And the danger people will face with this is you cause unnecessary damage to the reputation of people,” he said.
Revenue Generation
The Senate President also advised all tiers of government to mop up revenues in order to reduce the rate of borrowing by the country.
“We also had discussions on some other governance issues that have to do with making the revenues in the country, especially for government at the federal and the state levels, and even local governments, there are so many agencies of government that are not remitting their revenues, the internally generated revenues. And this is something that we have to address and address as swiftly as possible and as quickly as possible, because we need to find a way of reducing the borrowing that we do.
“So if there are areas that we can now get revenues that will help us reduce the amount of borrowing, then so be it. And this is something that we all agree with, Mr. President, that we should continue to look at those areas that we need to improve on revenue generation and collection. And thank God, we are on the same page with Mr. President, all these issues, and for us is certainly one of our commitment to Nigerians and to the administration, that in the National Assembly, our focus is Nigeria,” Lawan affirmed. Picture below:
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