Service Chiefs and heads of security agencies are to appear before the upper chamber on Thursday to brief it on efforts to address the spate of insecurity in the country.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Tuesday, made the disclosure in an announcement during the commencement of plenary proceedings.
According to him, the appearance by the service chiefs is in response to a resolution by the Senate last week Tuesday, wherein it was resolved that the service chiefs and other heads of security agencies be invited against the backdrop of heightening insecurity across states of the federation.
He said: “The briefing will be very crucial, for us to be properly informed and properly guided.
“The only item on the Order Paper on Thursday will be the briefing.”
Lawan explained that the service chiefs were unable to respond promptly to the invitation by appearing on Tuesday due to an ongoing security meeting at the Presidential Villa which is scheduled to end on Wednesday this week.
“You will recall that on Wednesday we announced that the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police and the DG NIA will be coming today at 11.00am to brief the Senate on the security situation.
“Today the National Security Council is continuing its meeting that it started last week. Therefore the invited security heads will not be able to come for the briefing.
“We are not sure if they will finish their meeting today. We assume it could spill to Wednesday too just like it spilled from Thursday to Tuesday.
“So to be on the side of caution, we have now fixed the date for the briefing to be Thursday, 6th May.
“I want to appeal to all of us that the briefing we will take from the Service Chiefs and other security agencies will be very crucial for us to be properly informed, properly guided and that if there is any request for supplementary budget, we should be able to understand why we should consider and approve such request.
“On Thursday, the only item on the order paper will be the briefing. We will do that as a special day for the engagement, the interaction between the Senate and the service.”
He noted that in view of the development, the service chiefs would, therefore, appear before the chamber on Thursday, May 6, 2021.
