All arms of government must work to address security challenges — Gbajabiamila

Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that all arms of government must work to address security challenges in the country.

The speaker said this in a statement issued and made available to newsmen by Lanre Lasisi, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, on Thursday in Abuja

He said that the three arms of government must take all necessary actions to face and address the security challenges facing the country

According to him, 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.

He said that this had led to loss of lives and property on a large scale.

He said that the internal security challenges were threatening the very existence of the Nigerian state because they undermined public faith in the government’s ability to fulfil its fundamental obligation.

“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 understood to be the preserve of the executive arm of government. As a result, the general public do not know what the legislative role in national security is, or ought to be.’’

The speaker noted that this knowledge gap presented an ongoing limitation on the policy-making and oversight role of the legislature as it pertained to the challenges faced in the national security sector.

He said that the realities of the moment required the willingness to speak with honesty about the things the country had not got right, adding that it would help the country to refocus energies on what could be done better for the future.

“A lot of the hopes we have for our country depend on our ability to guarantee the safety of our people and the security of property and investments,” he said.