Terrorism: Our security agents not well trained – Ndume

Senator Ali Ndume, the Senate Majority Chief Whip, has said that Nigerian security personnel are not well trained and motivated.

Ndume stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.

He urged the federal government to do the needful to secure the country.

He said, “The truth of the matter is that we have security challenges. The problem is not where the terrorists came from. The problem is that our security personnel are not fully capacitated. They are not well-equipped. They are not well trained or motivated.

“The primary responsibility of the government is the security and welfare of its citizens. The government should concentrate on that and get the country secure so that everybody can sleep with their two eyes closed.

“The security challenge we have been facing can be traced to 1999 when Boko Haram started in the North East and kept on transforming, then the bandits joined the forces. It is getting out of hand.

“The solution to this is to get enough security personnel that will face these people squarely. Right now we don’t have enough security personnel to handle the situation.”

The lawmaker noted security personnel, especially the rank and file, are poorly paid.

He added, “The recruits are paid less than N50,000 in some cases. How can you pay somebody money that cannot buy him a bag of rice and you expect him to go and sacrifice and put in his best?”