The
Senate President David Mark has advocated the death penalty for vandals, saying
that vandals are terrorists and should be punished as such to deter others from
such economic sabotage.
Mark, who
was represented by the chairman, Senate Committee on Intelligence and Security,
Sen. Magoro Muhammed, made this comment during the opening ceremony of a
two-day “Stakeholders forum on the protection of critical national assets and
infrastructure”, organised by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA)
and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). He insisted that
vandalism was akin to modern-day terrorism.
He said:
“Attack on these critical infrastructure should be seen as attack on Nigeria’s
national interest. Considering that we already have a bill with very
stringent laws and punishment recommended not long ago in the anti-terrorism
bill, it is time we also transferred such recommendations on any one who
tampers with our common wealth, no matter who he is. If this is done,
such lessons would not be easily forgotten. This is because a number of refineries
have been stopped from functioning as a result of internal sabotage.
These are our common wealth and our national interests are tied to it.
Anyone who destroys it has automatically destroyed the nation’s economy and
should be treated as a terrorist.”
Speaker
of the House of Representative, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, during his good
will remark disclosed that the country’s security policy was long overdue for a
review having lasted over 27 years (1986) after it was formulated.
Lamenting
that internal sabotage was gradually killing the country, Mark challenged
security agencies saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives and
critical government infrastructure to rise up to the challenge of accounting on
how far and how well they had gone before venturing into foreign missions.
He
pointed out that Nigeria’s greatest challenge had been that of responding
effectively to the yearnings for national security of both human and
infrastructure.
Tambuwal,
who was represented by the chairman, House Committee on Interior, Alhaji Umar
Bature, also affirmed that the protection of critical infrastructure was
the constitutional responsibility of the NSCDC .
Chairman
of the event and minister of interior, Comrade Abba Moro, said in spite
of activities of vandals in the country aimed at crippling the nation’s
economy, the Civil Defence Corps had achieved tangible results in terms of
arrest and prosecution.
He said:
“It is sad that since its formulation in1986, the law that established our
security act is yet to be reviewed. It is our thinking that the National
Security Adviser should come up with a review of our national security to
enable us phase vandalism out. This is the time.”
In his
remarks, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, acknowledged that the country’s major security challenges
were occasioned by vandalism and terrorist activities which, he described, as
serious drains on the economy.
He
noted that these attacks had badly affected the country’s economy and was
giving the security agencies sleepless nights.
