By Insecurity: House Committee On Defence Holds Retreat, Seeks Alternative Source Of Funding
The House of Representatives Committee on Defence today, Monday 16th March, 2020 commenced a two-day capacity building workshop/retreat in collaboration with Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre and Centre for Strategic Reseach and Studies (National Defence College) at the National Defence College, Abuja.
Below is the speech of the Chairman, House Committee of Defence, Rep. Babajimi Benson declaring the retreat open.
BEING THE SPEECH DELIVERED BY HON. BABAJIMI BENSON, CHAIRMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE AT THE TWO-DAY RETREAT ORGANISED FOR MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE AT NATIONAL DEFENCE COLLEGE IN COLLABORATION WITH POLICY AND LEGAL ADVOCACY CENTRE (PLAC)
Protocol
I am delighted to welcome you all to this very important retreat for members of the House Committee on Defence. This retreat is the first of its kind for the committee and is designed to equip members with the necessary tools in the performance of their legislative duties on the defence sector.
Committees remain the engine room of every parliament. Most of the legislature’s work are carried out at the committee level. This is why Members must be well trained to optimally carry out their task. The defence sector is even more specialised and requires distinct skills. As a committee, we are determined to effectively perform our duties and that informs the holding of this intensive retreat.
The retreat couldn’t have come at a better time considering the spate of security challenges facing the country. We are disturbed by these security challenges because we must always answer to our constituents. Consequently, the committee has continued to interact with the defence establishment with a view to finding lasting solutions to the challenges. Only recently, the committee visited Borno state for a face-to-face interaction with men and troops of Operation Lafiya Dole as well as the Governor of Borno state. We also had an interactive session with the Chief of Defence staff, Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police. All these have helped to shape our legislative intervention for the defence sector.
Honourable Colleagues, at the end of this two-day retreat, I am optimistic that we would have gleaned very useful skills and knowledge that will aid us in our work. We have made efforts to bring in the very best speakers to take the various important topics. Particularly, as representatives of the teeming Nigerian population, we seek to deepen the performance of roles in such a way that we can help to build trust and confidence between the civilian population and the military. This retreat will help us to explore ways to achieve this. Furthermore, we are all aware of the dwindling nature of resources available for appropriation to the security sector. Consequently, this retreat will open our eyes to alternative sources of funding for the defence sector and the role of the National Assembly in ensuring this.
I want to specially thank our Speaker, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila for approving this retreat and accepting to personally join us here to declare it open. On behalf of the Committee on Defence, we say thank you. I am also grateful to the Governors of Borno and Lagos States, Prof. Babagana Zulum and Babajide Sanwo-Olu for accepting to come and share their experiences with us. As the sitting governor in Borno State, we are looking forward to hearing from you about the imminent challenges the Boko Haram insurgency has caused. Similarly, the perspective of a governor outside the centre of the insurgency but also facing other security challenges will be shared by the Lagos State Governor.
Let me express my profound gratitude to the Chief of Defence Staff and all the Service Chiefs for accepting to be part of this event to share their experiences on topical issues with us. As our “partners” in nation building, we know that our legislative work is incomplete without you. My appreciation also goes to all the other resource persons. We are grateful to our sponsors, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) for footing the bills of this retreat. The House Committee on Defence looks forward to more robust partnership with your centre as we work towards a peaceful and secure Nigeria. I am particularly appreciative of the commitment by the National Defence College (NDC) towards ensuring that this event holds successfully. We are grateful for the facility made available as well as all the resources committed to this programme.
Finally, I want to sincerely thank my colleagues and members of the Defence Committee for finding time to attend this retreat in spite of their usually very busy schedule. I am aware that some of you have other pressing engagements but have chosen to be here. One thing I can assure you of is that the next two days will definitely be fruitful and rewarding. I am confident that lessons learnt from this retreat will reflect positively in the performance of our oversight of the defence sector.
Please, ensure that you take something out of this retreat. Once again, I welcome you.
Thank you.
