Politics
Over 50% of Nigeria’s earnings spent fighting insurgency – Senator Karimi
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Senator Sunday Karimi, has pointed out the enormous financial drain that insecurity has taken on Nigeria, saying that more than half of the country’s revenue in recent years has been spent on fighting terrorism and insurgency.
In a statement made in Abuja on Tuesday, and made available to journalists, the Kogi West Local Government Area lawmaker ostensibly tackled comments made by Senator Ali Ndume, who had lambasted the current administration for alleged imbalance in federal appointments.
However, Karimi noted that such sentiments detract from more important national issues like insecurity, which he believes should be the focus of leaders from the worst-hit regions.
Karimi voiced disappointment in Ndume, declaring that as a ranking senator and former Chief Whip of the Senate, he should focus on pressing national issues, especially insecurity, rather than stoking ethnic sentiments.
“Over 50% of Nigeria’s earnings in the last few years are being spent on fighting insurgency,” Karimi said.
He urged Ndume to redirect his efforts toward community engagement and supporting local solutions to insecurity in the North-East instead of consistently criticising the federal government.
“Rather than playing to the gallery and criticising the government, Senator Ndume, as a leader of his people, should go back home, liaise with his people on solving Boko Haram problems. Insecurity has a local solution,” he said.
Karimi cited his constituency as an example of proactive leadership, saying he had facilitated the construction of a military base in Yagba West, Kogi State, and provided additional logistics to tackle rising security threats.
“The country has lost a lot of its soldiers and trillions of Naira fighting insurgents in Senator Ndume’s Senatorial District in the last decades.
“In fact, I lost one of the young officers, a captain in the Nigerian Army from my Senatorial District, serving in his community three weeks ago.
“Lots of young Nigerians had lost their lives fighting to defend the territorial integrity of our country. Those are more serious and compelling issues threatening our collective existence,” he added.
It could be recalled that Ndume’s initial comments came during an interview on Arise TV’s ‘Prime Time’ on Monday, where he lashed out at Tinubu’s political appointments as failing to reflect the nation’s diversity as required by the constitution.