TheCable

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the security challenges affecting the country will soon be over.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Tuesday, asked the national assembly to approve a supplementary budget of N895 billion.

On June 9, the federal executive council (FEC) approved the budget for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as to support military operations.

While receiving the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti on Thursday in Abuja, the vice-president, in a statement issued by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, said the budget was informed by the government‘s plan to beef up its response to the nation’s security challenges.

“The president has recently constituted a committee that will look at the whole security infrastructure with a view to looking at the needs of the military as well as the police and security agencies,” the statement reads.

“The result of that is a bill before the National Assembly, a supplementary bill.

“The purpose of that bill is to present some of the needs of the military, as well as of security agencies in order to be able to beef up our response to the security challenges.

“We have to keep looking at how to support our security services to ensure that our country is safe.

“I can assure you that soon, the issue of insecurity will be a thing of the past, and that we will all live in peace and prosperity in this country.

“There is no question at all that at the level of community we need to take decisive action, because most of these things occur in our community level.

“And I’m very happy to hear that you have a committee organised for the purpose of tackling insecurity and that you’ve been able to contain the menace that we see in different parts of the country in your community.”

Osinbajo also called for collaborative efforts, involving governments at all levels, to address insecurity.

“Any country with this number of security challenges must respond as robustly as possible. But it is also important to bear in mind that it takes a combined effort of all of us, at the local government level, state and federal levels; all of the levels,” he said.

“We need to come together to tackle this issue of insecurity.”

Osinbajo was said to have given the assurance that the government will provide necessary support to the community in tackling its challenges.

According to him, the federal government is also working with the Ekiti government on dealing with insecurity.