The Senate yesterday grilled service chiefs for four hours over the rising insecurity in the country.
After the exercise, the senators said even though they did not discuss money in the closed-door session, they were waiting for supplementary budget from relevant government agencies that will help in providing funding for the security agencies.
The service chiefs who appeared before the Senate are the chief of defence staff, Lucky Irabor; chief of army staff, Ibrahim Attahiru; chief of the naval staff, Awwal Gambo; chief of the air staff, Ishiaka Amao; the acting inspector -general of police, Usman Alkali Baba; the director-general, Department of State Services, Yusuf Magaji Bichi and the director-general, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufa’i.
The Senate president, Ahmad Lawan said the chief of defence staff spoke on behalf of the service chiefs and explained to the Senate what should be done to tackle the security challenges.
Before the closed-door meeting, Lawan had said the military was yet to tackle the security challenges because of inadequate resources at its disposal.
Lawan’s verdict came a few days after the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, had said the Muhammadu Buhari administration provided enough funds for “Operation Lafiya Dole” in the Northeast.Ahmed said the Buhari administration had been funding the mtary, adding that even special requests made to the president by the security agencies were funded 100 per cent. (Leadership)