Senate yesterday directed the Nigerian Air Force ( NAF) to use air surveillance for identification of locations of the armed bandits in Zamfara state which are within the sparse forest, and flush them out.
The upper legislative chamber also urged the federal government to mount diplomatic pressure on Niger Republic and Chad to forestall criminals from using their territories to launch attack on Nigeria. It equally urged the Zamfara state government to upgrade, recruit and generously fund state and local vigilance teams with the aim of improving security in the affected areas.
These resolutions were sequel to a motion titled: “Urgent Need to look into the Killings that took place in Zurmi L.G.A of Zamfara State” sponsored by Senator Tijjani Kaura (APC Zamfara North) during plenary. Senator Kaura, while presenting the motion, noted that “cross border banditry had brought Nigeria’s frail security system to the lime light having triggered an orgy of violence in Zamfara State which left 39 people dead in Zurmi local government area on Wednesday, February 14, 2018”.
The lawmaker said despite the notice and warnings to the law enforcement agencies on the impending attack by the Zamfara state government 24 hours before the attack, no precautionary measures were put in place to avert the unfortunate event.
He raised concerns that the latest attacks had caused fears across the state, especially around rural communities who had similar experiences in the past and were helpless. “These security breaches are on the increase in spite of the huge resources being expended by the Federal and Zamfara state governments,” he lamented.
Contributing, the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan said there must be executive-legislative collaboration to ensure that the outcome of the recently held national security summit was realised. “We need to be optimistic that this time around the implementation will be better,” he said.
