With the just-concluded meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly on the state of security in the country, a lot of clarity has been given to the issues causing concern among Nigerians.
It is gratifying that the meeting afforded the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila got first-hand information on the efforts of the Buhari administration to curtail the spate of killings, kidnappings and other crimes in the country.
From the outcome of the meeting, it came to the fore that the president was very concerned about the rising insecurity and his administration is actually focused on securing the country and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
Similarly, the meeting addressed the clamour for the sack of the service chiefs and noted that in the main the responsibility of internal security rests with the Nigerian Police and that the military usually steps in to complement the efforts of the police. We firmly believe that the president is in the best position to apprise the performance of his appointees including the service chiefs, and therefore knows who is suitable for any position.
We note that the meeting equally addressed the fears and concerns of Nigerians with the announcement that a committee comprising the executive, legislature and the All Progressives Congress will be set up to periodically evaluate the security situation in the country and proffer pragmatic solutions where the need arise.
We note that the meeting also gave the National Assembly leadership the rare opportunity to distill the mind of the president on the issue and arrived and arrived at the conclusion that the country is in safe hands going by the commitment of the president to tackle the issues headlong. As the representatives of the people, we are glad that their interface with the president will go a long way to douse the apprehension among Nigerians over insecurity.
We note that as a demonstration of the president’s commitment in tackling insecurity, the Boko Haram insurgents have been restricted to the North East unlike in the past when they had a field day by throwing bombs at will, including the United Nations, Police headquarters,THISDAY head office, Karu motor park among others.
With the efforts of the Buhari administration, the terrorist group has resorted to attacking soft targets in some isolated areas of the North East, and the administration has shown the capacity to completely eradicate the menace.
We note that despite the efforts of the Buhari administration, there is room for improvement especially in procuring modern equipment, arms and ammunition for both the military and the Nigerian Police.