The lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, has faulted the Federal Government over the handling of the security situation in the North East.
Ndume who was a guest on Channels Television’s NewsNight on Monday said the current administration is not doing enough to tackling insurgency confronting the region.
“Government is not making any deliberate efforts. This is a war situation; we are at war with criminals in Nigeria now – the bandits, kidnappers, and Boko Haram as the top one.
“Nigeria has to stand up to address that issue and leave any other thing. How can you be talking about infrastructure or development and all that? Is it not when you have peace that you can use all those places,” he said.
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Ndume who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army decried the number of personnel of the nation’s Armed Forces Nigeria, describing the situation as “grossly inadequate”.
He, therefore, asked the Federal Government to look into the welfare of the troops at the theatre of operation in the region.
“There are only 30, 000 in that theatre. It is grossly inadequate. They are not well-equipped, they are not well-kitted, they are not well-funded.
“In Nigeria of 200 million, you only have 150, 000 soldiers with 6,000 officers. Can you say we are serious?” he questioned.
The lawmaker noted that smaller countries neighbouring like the Gambia, Chad have taken up their security issues seriously.
He urged the government to adequately provide the Armed Forces with the needed support, logistics and funding to tackle the several security challenges in the country.
