Senate shifts meeting with Service Chiefs, IGP to Thursday

The Senate on Tuesday shifted its proposed meeting with Service Chiefs, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Inspector General of Police to Thursday.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan disclosed this at plenary.

Lawan said the security chiefs, who are supposed to brief the Senate, are still engaged at the National Security Council meeting which may extend till Wednesday.

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.”

The Senate last Tuesday, after an exhaustive debate, resolved to invite the heads of the nation’s Armed Forces and other security agencies over the deteriorating security situation in the country.

It had also resolved its leadership should meet with President Muhammdu Buhari, to seek ways of mitigating the security challenges bedeviling the country.

Lawan said: “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.”