Senator decries poor funding of security agencies

Senator representing Cross River South Senatorial District, Gershom Bassey, has called for adequate funding of security agencies in the country. 

Speaking in Calabar, yesterday, Bassey said: “I think there is one area that we must address if we want to go forward in securing our nation, whether it is from external aggression or criminality within our nation. It is the issue of funding and budgeting. 

“Recently, I interacted with some security agencies, because of the happenings in my state. It has become very clear to me that security agencies are not adequately funded. This is an area we can look into. I know that we have the Police Trust Fund and others, but it still appears we do not have enough funds, particularly for our security agencies. I do not want to go into details.

“We have to put together a committee or standing committees to look into adequate funding of these agencies so that they can meet up with the pressure put on them.

“The second issue is the issue of recruitment of personnel. We know that there is a problem at the moment with police recruitment. We are under-policed and under-secured. It is very clear we do not have enough security agents to secure the population…”

He charged the National Assembly to look into the issue of funding of the security agencies, particularly the internal security agencies. 

On the #OccupyLekki protest, he cautioned that protesters should operate within the ambits of the law.