Kogi lawmakers on Tuesday raised alarm over what they described as the porosity of the state’s house of the assembly complex.
They observed that in view of the prevailing security challenges facing the state and the country, there ought to be a pragmatic action on how to check insecurity.
The lawmakers unanimously endorsed a motion raised by Assemblyman Muktar Bajeh, the Majority Leader of the House, to stagger their sittings, so as not to fall victims of attacks by hoodlums.
Mr Bajeh, who raised the motion for serious security measures being taken to safeguard the assembly complex, said that staggering their sitting days was paramount and imperative not to fall victim.
Mr Bajeh (APC Okehi) said, “the security situation in Nigeria and Kogi of today demands that we should approach the state government to help improve the security situation of our assembly complex.
“Though it’s a known fact that Gov. Yahaya Bello stands tall amongst his equals in terms of securing the state, we want his administration to do more in view of the current security challenges in the country.
“I hereby suggest that in view of the security challenges, we should stagger our sittings as a proactive measure until the government helps to improve on the security of the assembly complex,” he proposed.
Supporting the motion, Assemblyman Umar Isah-Tanimu (APC Lokoja I) decried the complex’s location at the outskirts of the metropolis and with a very low fence, which he said, that even a 10 year-old child could jump over.
“The government should help raise the fence and equally provide the complex with CCTV cameras and a security post that will help guarantee the safety of lawmakers and the assembly’s staffers,” Mr Isah-Tanimu said.
The speaker of the house, Matthew Kolawale, who added his voice, approved; the idea of staggering their sittings in the interim.
Mr Kolawale also called on the state government to urgently reconstruct the Zone 8-Crusher Road leading to the assembly complex, in view of the danger it portended to them, the assembly’s staff and other agencies.
“If you take a look at the agencies along the bad road, you will discover they are majorly federal government’s including the Federal High Court, the Central Bank of Nigeria, West African Examination Council, and many others including our state High Court.
“Under normal circumstances, the journey from the Zone 8 Junction to this complex should take nothing more than five minutes, but today it took me 27 minutes to get here.
“It’s unfortunate that most of our security personnel are not armed, so we are calling on the government to increase the security personnel as well as to equip them properly.
“Again, as part of security measures, we should be conscious of those who enter the complex by introducing staff and visitors tags for easy identification.”
(NAN)
