The Nigerian senate has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to recruit 10,000 Civilian Joint Task Force members as it seeks to secure Borno state.
The call on the President was made on Tuesday during plenary amidst the upper chamber’s resolutions, sequel to the consideration of a motion, “Beheading of 67 Farmers in Borno by Boko Haram Insurgents: Need for Urgent Decisive Action.”
The Senate in its nine-point resolutions prayed the President to take immediate steps to restructure, remodel and revamp the country’s entire security architecture and provide enough state-of-the-art weapons and equipment to effectively combat the belligerent power of the insurgents.
It also urged the President to immediately initiate probe into widespread allegations of corruption and leakages within the security structure and put mechanisms in place to foster transparency and ensure all resources meant and deployed for security are actually spent on the needs on ground.
In addition, the upper chamber called on the Federal Government to aggressively explore multilateral and bilateral options of partnership with the neighbouring nations of Chad, Niger and Cameroons towards reviving and strengthening the Multinational Joint Task Force and finding a lasting solution to the scourge of insurgency in the Lake Chad region.
Accordingly, it urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, recruit at least 10,000 Civilian JTF, versatile with the local terrain in Borno as Agro-Rangers under the aegis of the NCDSC to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Consequently, the Senate also directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry; and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to provide succour and psychological support to the bereaved families.
While calling on the Federal Government to undertake recruitment of more personnel into the Armed Forces, the Upper Chamber advocated proper welfare for security personnel fighting in the frontlines and give prime attention to the compensation and welfare of fallen soldiers as that would boost the soldiers morale and aid their concentration.
It also called on the Federal and State Governments to adequately address all immediate and remote causes of insecurity in the nation, which must include comprehensive packages on education, employment and other social vices.
