Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says service chiefs are for external aggression and the police are for internal security and should be held accountable for the insecurity in the country.
The speaker made this assertion after a closed-door meeting with President Muhamadu Buhari, alongside, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan on Monday.
“Many of us identify that something drastic has to be done, there’s also the school of thought that says since we are talking about banditry, kidnapping and murders, what have the armed forces got to do with that, anywhere in the world?
“So, the question then arises that if he changes the service chiefs, does that address the issues of kidnapping and banditry? The army, navy and air force are outfits set up to tackle external aggression. It is the police that is set up for internal security, such as we are all witnessing.
“That’s talking about service chiefs, has the inspector-general of police met up with his responsibilities?
“The question is if we now narrow it down to the inspector-general to police, many will argue that he has done a very good job and many will argue with you that he’s straight-jacketed.
“There’s very little he can do in the face of no equipment, no funding and we explained to Mr President that we have to increase funding, we have to recruit more,” Gbajabiamila said
The speaker said the proliferation of insecurity in the country had incited the meeting with the president, who on his part, expressed concern over the degrading sector, saying, “He intends to do something about our challenges,”.
The speaker noted that although there are popular demands for the sack of service chiefs, as witnessed in matters arising both at the Senate and House of representatives, one does not “want a knee-jack reaction”.
Gbajabiamila, however, disclosed that ‘a committee, comprising members of the national assembly and the executive, will be set up to periodically review the security situation in the country’, The Cable report.
Speaking on the need for investing in security manpower and welfare, the Senate President, Lawan said it was critical not to underestimate its importance in the general output of security personnel, owing to the fact, they lay their lives for that of the citizenry.
“How do they live? Where do they live? What is the condition of the schools for their children? So, these are issues that are very important and could have very impact outcomes when we are able to do the right thing and we will do them,” Lawan said.
Recalled that the minority leader of the Senate, Eyinnaya Abaribibe had demanded that the president resigned over the degrading state of insecurity in the country.
Relatively, the House of Representatives had also demanded that service chiefs be sacked, over failure to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.
This was a sequel to the recent spate ofinsurgency across the country.
While the federal government insists a lot of resources is being bumped into the security sector, the security situation in the country has remained worst