President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has assured that the National Assembly would ensure that the security sector is allocated the lion share in the final copy of the 2022 budget.

Lawan said this at the opening of the 5th Conference of Network of African Parliamentarians Members of Defense and Security Committees in Abuja.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Ola Awoniyi, the Special Adviser on Media to Senate President in Abuja on Thursday.

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“Today our nation, our continent and even the world have been challenged by insecurity.

“For us in Nigeria, in the National Assembly, our committees on Defence and Security are probably the most overworked, certainly the busiest committees.

“But right from inception in 2019 when those committees were formed, we considered insecurity in Nigeria as part and parcel of our legislative agenda.

“And, of course, that is the agenda of the administration as well, so there is a meeting point between us in the Legislature in the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government,” he said.

Lawan added: “We believe that this is one challenge we need to address, otherwise development and progress will continue to be stunted and jeopardised.

“Only few months ago, the National Assembly passed a supplementary budget of over 900 billion naira and about 80 percent of that, over 800 billion naira was appropriated for security and defence of our country.

“And by the grace of God, we intend to repeat the same feat, in the 2022 appropriation bill that has been presented to us, we will ensure that the defence and security of Nigeria receives the highest appropriation for us to provide security for our people.

“Our presence here as parliamentarians attests to this fact that we need to fight insecurity and ensure defence for our country through this kind of forum.”

Vanguard News Nigeria