President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has identified international politics as the factor frustrating the Nigerian military and other security outfits in combating insecurity in the country.
Lawan said international politics was slowing down efforts aimed at acquiring sophisticated machinery needed by the security agencies to do their jobs.
He stated this on Sunday while speaking with journalists ahead of the first anniversary of the Ninth Senate, which comes up on Thursday.
The Senate President explained that international politics usually frustrated efforts to buy equipment for the Nigerian armed forces as the request were allowed to take longer than necessary, adding that the country’s security system was currently overstretched as more resources were required to tackle insecurity.
Lawan said, “To some extent, we are suffering from international politics. I know that in our efforts to try to buy spare parts for jets, they may write to a certain foreign government and it will take six to nine months while another country will write to the same government and maybe get it in one or two months.
“So, something is not right, but that’s to say that it’s now one of our challenges that we will continue to engage with countries that we feel don’t understand what we are doing here.
“Also, we need more resources for security. By resources, I don’t mean just money, we need more personnel for the armed forces.
“We need more personnel for the police, Nigerian immigration Service, and almost all the agencies and paramilitary as well.
“We also need resources in terms of equipment, machinery, and then training.
“What we experience today is we don’t have sufficient personnel, the resources available to security office are inadequate.
“Government is doing a lot to get more resources in terms of equipment and machinery.”