During the meeting, the lawmakers will present a summary of the reports and resolutions of the National Assembly on insecurity since the 8th and 9th assemblies as recommendations for the president.
The leadership of the House of Representatives will also be included in the team of lawmakers that will hold the security briefing with the president.
The resolution was a sequel to a motion sponsored by the senator representing Benue North Senatorial District, Emmanuel Udende.
Mr Udende, while presenting his motion, lamented the rising insecurity situation in his constituency, noting that his people are under siege.
The senator said about 50 persons were unjustly murdered by bandits in recent attacks in different parts of the north-central state.
He specifically raised concerns over the increasing insecurity in Kwande, Ukum, Logo and Katsina-Ala Local Government Areas of the state
“My people are under siege. As I talk to you they are attacking them on all fronts and it is going on unabated.
“Not fewer than 50 persons have been killed in fresh attacks on several communities in Logo, Katsina-Ala LGAs of Benue state by terrorists parading as herdsmen.
“The affected communities, some of them, were recently attacked as of yesterday (Tuesday). The residents of the villages found themselves targeted on a daily basis by heavily armed terrorists and the toll is staggering as they bear the brunt,” he said.
Mr Udende said despite the various attacks and damages on the communities, the perpetrators are still enjoying freedom.
“The perpetrators have remained elusive,” he added.
He therefore prayed the Senate to mandate the leadership of both chambers of the national assembly to present a summary of the reports of the eighth and ninth assemblies on security to President Tinubu.
Mr Udende also urged the service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to deploy personnel to the affected areas and adopt the use of technology for surveillance.
The senator also called on the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to distribute relief materials to the affected communities.
Contributions
Abba Morro, the Senate minority leader, expressed concern over the continuous increase in insecurity in the country despite several motions and resolutions on the issue in the National Assembly.
Mr Moro, who represents Benue South on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said many of the resolutions in the National Assembly on insecurity have not been effective.
“I think the time has come, the prayers are the same all the time, urge security chiefs, urge NEMA and all that and it has not yielded the desired results. We need to be proactive on this matter.
“In the ninth senate, an ad hoc committee was set up to review the security architecture, which was done, but unfortunately the recommendations were not implemented.
“Some of these bandits hideouts in forests, the mystery is why have we not been able to pick them from these forests. Let’s ask our compliance committee to ensure resolutions are implemented” Mr Moro said.
The immediate past senate president, Ahmed Lawan, also supported the motion.
Mr Lawan, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, advised that the Senate does not need to raise another motion on insecurity, but should ensure that security agencies account for the huge sums of money that have been allocated to them to fight insecurity.
“One thing is very clear Mr President, this Senate and the National Assembly since I know it has always given a lot of attention and a lot of resources because we believe that within the constraint of our resources, we must do something to improve on funding.
“We need to insist on value for money. If we don’t have KPIs the resources may simply be frittered away so I believe that going forward security agencies must always account for the resources we give them.
“The eighth Senate where I was leader, the ninth Senate where I was senate president, all had a national summit on security and we had very rich reports which we forwarded to the president that time. I believe we should go back, and look at those reports. Our leadership should engage Mr President and come up with those resolutions we passed here in the Senate.
“Some citizens will say they want to defend themselves, but what is the purpose of the government? The most important of any government is security, even welfare is second.
“The security architecture of Nigeria has failed woefully. We have said in previous assemblies, that this thing was not working and we have to find something that works” Mr Lawan said.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, granted the prayers after contributions from the lawmakers.
Mr Akpabio, thereafter, directed the Clerk of the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, to arrange the resolutions of the previous Senate on insecurity for proper documentation and presentation to President Tinubu.
“Let me thank you for your insights. As a matter of fact, I think you have almost concluded the debate. The clerk of the Senate should (examine) the reports that were sent to Mr President coupled with the report that we have here based on our motions and observations so we can seek an audience with Mr President to see how to proffer solutions to bring this to an end,” Mr Akapbio said.
