Thread by @SpeakerGbaja

All arms of govt must work to address security challenges, Gbajabiamila says

The three arms of government must take all necessary actions to face and address the security challenges facing the country, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has said.

Speaker @femigbaja declared open a 2-day retreat and workshop on promoting effective legislation and oversight of the security sector in Nigeria organized by the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence in Abuja today.

He said: "We are at this moment experiencing in many parts of our country, significant internal security challenges that have disrupted the lives of many of our citizens, and led to a loss of lives and property at a scale that cannot easily be quantified.

These internal security challenges threaten the very existence of the Nigerian state because they undermine public faith in the government’s ability to fulfil its fundamental obligation to protect the lives and property of citizens.

Across the three arms of government, we have a shared responsibility to take all necessary actions to meet these challenges head-on. This is what the people who elected us rightly expect.

National security is generally understood to be the preserve of the executive arm of government. As a result, the general public and even the political class often do not know what the legislative role in national security is, or ought to be.

This knowledge gap presents an ongoing limitation on the policy-making and oversight role of the legislature as it pertains specifically to the challenges we face in the national security sector.

The realities of the moment require that we be willing to speak honest truths about the things we haven’t gotten right so that we can then focus our energies on making sure that we do better for the future.

"I encourage all of you to remember that a lot of the hopes we have for our country depend on our ability to guarantee the safety of our people & the security of property & investments.

When I came in, I visited 3 states affected by insecurity; Katsina, Borno and Zamfara.

We now have in our process the means of alternative funding for the security agencies.

I think we should have the roles of each security agencies clearly defined. It's important that we understand the separation.

There's no way you can have a government that thrives without security. Anything else relies on security. That's why when this government came in, security was one of the legs," the Speaker added.

In an address, the chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Rep. Sha'aban Sharada, said members of the committee were committed to seeing that all security agencies under them are provided with the necessary support to succeed in their mandate.