The Nigeria Senate resumes today from the Christmas and New year break for normal legislative duties. The legislators as expected at their resumption on Tuesday, went straight to national issues, and top on their list was the state of insecurity in the country, especially the Benue herdsmen killings.
The Ahmed Lawan led ad hoc committee which cut short their recess to look into security issues in the country, gave their findings as members were given opportunity to express their views on the current state of the nation.
Also, both the heads of the National Assembly, later met with the president where they briefed him on their resolutions and a possible way forward.
Senate Saraki on his part, later release a statement on today’s senate plenary, and in the long statement he released on his social media page, the Senate President touched on security, unemployment and most importantly, how politicians should be responsible to those that elected them and to Nigerians in general. He said:
Today, the Senate resumed plenary to embark on its legislative agenda for the year 2018.
As we begin our activities, I am not unmindful of the sobering fact that the new year has met many citizens in a reflective mood. Many were on the queue for petrol; many households are grief-stricken. This mood of reflection is also one from which no lawmaker is immune; what affects one, affects all. When one part of the body is hurting, the whole body hurts, and this holds true for the entire nation.
We have all been witnesses to the hardships which many Nigerians saw in the new year, stuck on fuel queues tailing from petrol stations in many of our cities. It has been disheartening to see, especially during the festive period when Nigerians should have been enjoying carefree time with their loved ones, with enough petrol in their tanks to make that cherished journey to their various hometowns.
We, as representatives of the people, feel the pain of the people. Things being the way they were, we could not but respond to the crisis. This is why I had to direct members of the Senate Investigative Panel on Fuel Scarcity to cut short their recess to commence hearings into the lingering problem; and that work is ongoing. I commend the committee for their prompt response and the work carried out.
We seek the cooperation and understanding of Nigerians as we try to get to the bottom of this issue. My own estimation of the fuel scarcity phenomenon is that it is man-made. We thought we had left the problem of fuel queues firmly in the past in this country, but sadly, that appears not to be the case. In any event, there is a problem, and it must be solved. We await the findings of the Investigative Panel on Fuel Scarcity, firm in our resolve that whoever is responsible must pay the price for visiting this needless hardship upon our people.
The Senate condemns the killings in Benue State in the strongest terms, and we declare that mindless bloodletting has no place in our society. I offer our sincerest condolences to the people of Benue, and indeed to all who have suffered the loss of their loved ones as a result of these wanton acts.
Human life is sacred. We state without equivocation that Nigerian life must become sacred. When we fail in our duty to protect Nigerian lives, it is a tragedy and an indictment on us all. We as the 8th Senate stand ready to help find solutions to assuage the hurt to affected parts, to bring the perpetrators to justice and to enthrone peace in all four corners of this country.
