The Senate on Wednesday took the Federal Government to task over its inability to effectively deal with the alarming rate of insecurity in the country, particularly banditry in the North-West geopolitical zone.
It re-opened the call for state police, insisting that was the only solution to the problem.
The Senate’s position followed two separate motions moved by senators Emmanuel Bwacha from Taraba State and Kabir Marafa from Zamfara State.
Both senators lamented the ongoing killings in their states and across the country and the federal government’s apparent helplessness in the face of the challenge.
Bwacha, in his motion alerted his colleagues of the spate of kidnappings in his state, suggesting legislative backing for persons who desired to carry arms for self- defence.
Standing on orders 42 and 52 of the Senate standing rules to move his motion, Marafa, noted that the problem of insecurity in Zamfara State was getting worse by the day, saying the situation called for urgent legislative intervention.
He said: “Since 2011, as a result of the unabating activities of the criminals in the state, roughly estimated 11,000 males have been killed leaving behind an average of 22,000 widows and by extension, 44,000 orphans.
“These figures are just by conservative estimates because the figures are higher. Bandits and heavily armed kidnappers operate with little or no resistance in Gusau, the state capital, making less than 75 per cent of the people in Zamfara not to be sleeping in their houses.
“The situation has nothing to do with politics because my own blood sister was brutally murdered in her matrimonial home in February this year and even two of my cousins were killed outside the state capital few weeks back.”
Commenting on the issue, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, commended Marafa for commitment to finding solution to the deteriorating security situation in Zamfara.
He held that “For government to tackle the security problem headlong, the abnormality of Nigeria being the only federation with centralised police, must be addressed.”
READ ALSO: Allegations of Bias: Judge Withdraws from Okorocha’s Certificate of Return Suit
For the Senate Chief Whip, Olusola Adeyeye, the constitution, which provided for an “over- centralised federation or better put, unitary system as against a federal system of government” was the major problem of the country.
He insisted that as long as the problematic constitution was not amended by way of removing policing from the exclusive list to the concurrent list to pave the way for state police, criminality at local levels would continue unchecked.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his comments said apart from the establishment of community or state police, it was essential to properly fund the Nigeria Police Force to tackle the problem.
“From the contributions we have had, I think it is key that we begin to look at the problem and look for long-term solutions. I think that what we did yesterday (Tuesday) in trying to strengthen the funding of the police through the Police Reform Bill is right.
“The sooner that we can pass that bill will also help us in addressing the insecurity challenges.
“But more importantly is that we must go back to what a lot of us had been advocating here that there is the need for us to have state or community police. It is the way forward. Otherwise, we will continue to run into these problems.
“On the area of oversight, there is a lot also that we need to do to ensure that we hold the security agencies accountable. And we need to move very fast in this area.”
The senate urged that provision for N10bn be made in the 2019 appropriation bill as intervention fund to cater for the Internally Displaced Persons and other persons affected by the activities of bandits in Zamfara State.
It further called for establishment of a 10-year Presidential Initiative to cater to the needs of displaced persons affected by banditry in the state.
