Following the killing of the Vice Principal and the abduction of 25 students of the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State by bandits, the Senate has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately approve the urgent recruitment of at least 100,000 Nigerians into the military to further boost security in the country.
The Upper Chamber, while calling for the rescue of all the students from their abductors, also set up an ad-hoc committee to carry out a thorough investigation into the funds expended so far on the Safe School Initiative.
The Senate resolution followed motion raised under urgent matters of public importance by Senator Abdullahi (APC Kebbi North) on the abduction of the school girls in the early hours of Monday.
Presenting the motion, Senator Abdullahi said the abduction of the students and killing of the school Vice Principal by bandits was a slap on the face of the nation, which must be seriously looked into and urgently addressed.
“This is a wake-up call for the country as far as security and safety are concerned, because a nation that cannot secure its children is not worth living in,” he said.
Senator Abdullahi warned that if the abduction of pupils from their various schools has not halted, the acquisition of knowledge by school-age Nigerians would be seriously undermined and stagnate the growth and development of the country.
Contributing to the motion, the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC Borno North), described the act as dastardly, which, according to him, must be risen against by all Nigerians.
Also, Senator Francis Fadahunsi (APC, Osun East) warned that the nation must rid itself of it before foreign powers intervene, expressing concern that the criminality of banditry and terrorism still persist in the country despite the efforts being made against it by the Tinubu-led government.
“The more President Tinubu struggles to end the banditry and terrorism, the more kidnapping continues. Crime is spreading every day. Nigerians must stand up against this impunity before we have problem from abroad,” he said.
In his own, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), said for banditry and terrorism to be effectively curbed in the country, more officers and men need to be urgently recruited into the military to man the ungoverned areas being exploited by the criminal elements to carry out their heinous acts.
Also, Senator Ahmad Lawan (APC Yobe North), in his contribution, stressed the need for a probe of the Safe School Programme implemented after the Chibok girls abduction in 2014.
“Since schools are not yet safe and secure for our pupils, there is a need to probe the funds given and how they are being expended so that the expected results are not being received,” he said.
The Senate, after deliberations on the motion, called for urgent rescue of the abducted school pupils, urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the military to recruit at least 100,000 officers and men as soon as possible for a more potent war against banditry and terrorism in the country.
The upper legislative chamber mandated its Committees on Finance, Education, and Defence to conduct a thorough investigation into the Safe School Fund, instituted in 2014.
In his remarks after adoption of the resolutions, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said: “No country is free of crime, not even the United States.
“But our responsibility is to make laws, pass motions, and take decisions that reduce crime to the barest minimum. Crime is crime; it does not belong to any administration.
He said: “We urge the Armed Forces and all Nigerians with useful information to assist in securing the release of these children and ensuring justice for the victims.”
The Senate later observed a one-minute silence for the Vice Principal of the School, as well as Brigadier General Uba Musa, killed by ISWAP terrorists in Damboa, Borno State, on Sunday.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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