The Senate grilled the heads of the various security agencies in the country for four hours on Thursday and lamented their inability to tackle the challenges of insecurity despite huge budgetary provisions.

The military and other security chiefs in attendance, according to our correspondent’s investigations, however, told the federal lawmakers that the huge budgetary provisions over the years were spent on overhead and capital projects.

They were said to have pleaded with the National Assembly to expedite action on the supplementary budget whenever the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), present the fiscal document for their consideration.

Our correspondent further learnt that the meeting resolved to demand the presentation of the document for immediate legislative actions.

The military chiefs in attendance were General Lucky Irabor (Chief of Defence Staff), Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru (Chief of Army Staff); Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo (Chief of Naval Staff); and Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao (Chief of Air Staff).

Also at the meeting were the acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba; the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar; and the Director-General of the Department of State Service, Yusuf Bichi.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, told journalists after the meeting that the Senate asked the executive to forward the supplementary budget to the National Assembly so that the military could have equipment to work with.

Basiru said, “We did not talk about money. We did not talk about figure. We had a high level discussion on general challenges and requirements for us to have an efficient and effective security.

“The details of whatever will go into supplementary appropriation can only be worked upon by the Ministry of Finance, which is an executive arm together with our relevant Committee and such are not matters that we will go into details.”

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had before the meeting assured Nigerians that the challenges facing the country were being taken seriously by the parliament.

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“We pray that at the end of this interaction, we will see better ways and means of providing the necessary resources to enable our armed forces continue to guarantee national security,” he said.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume, also declared the meeting as fruitful.

PIB’ll be passed before end of May – Lawan

Meanwhile, the Senate has assured Nigerians that the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 will be passed before the end of this month.

Lawan, who announced this at the end of the plenary on Thursday, also said the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill would be passed in June.

The Senate thereafter adjourned for two weeks to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting.