Alarmed by rising insecurity, Senate charges Nigerian govt to deploy drones for kidnappers, armed bandits

Worried by the growing menace of kidnappers and criminal bandits in various parts of the country, the Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to purchase and deploy drones to hunt down the criminals.

The lawmakers also called for tracking of telephone numbers by kidnappers to demand for ransom from their victims’ families and associates.

The senators made this call during the debate on a motion sponsored by Senator Lekan Mustapha (Ogun East) and titled: “Urgent need for security agencies to intervene in the increased rate of kidnapping in the riverine areas of Ogun East senatorial district and securing the waterways.”

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said the National Assembly had requested the National Security Adviser, Gen. Babagana Monguno, to put up a proposal for the purchase of drones to be deployed across the country in a bid to flush out the kidnappers and other criminal elements from their hideouts.

According to him, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had received the Senate approval to put a platform for tracking the kidnappers through the active mobile numbers used during negotiations.

Lawan claimed the federal government had planned to launch a National Emergency Call Centre, adding that an emergency phone number was already activated for the purpose of contacting the various security agencies in times of distress.

He said: “In the last one month, I’ve been holding regular meetings with security agencies, including the Ministers of Communications and the Federal Capital Territory.

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“What we are trying to do is to get a better and result-oriented approach to fighting kidnapping and insecurity.

“We have insisted that no amount of resources will be too much because we need to protect our people and secure the country.

“It will remain a pipe dream if we continue to ask investors to come to Nigeria; even those in Nigeria will not invest properly if the security situation remains very dicey.

“This is something that the National Assembly will have to do together with the executive arm of government. We have to look for something out of the ordinary for funding.”

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