President Bola Tinubu during today’s Federal Executive Council meeting, expressed frustration with the National Economic Council’s slow pace on livestock reforms and urging members (Governors) to carry out their constitutional responsibility.

Emphasising on the livestock reforms, he insisted that the NEC must revive grazing reserves or ranches across the country.

Tinubu asked Vice President Kashim Shettima to get the National Economic Council to identify grazing reserves that can be rehabilitated into ranches or livestock settlements.

He said that conflict prone areas should be converted into opportunities for economic development and long-term prosperity.

Regarding the withdrawal of VIP police escorts , President Tinubu directed ministers and other VIPs who still require security cover for their official assignments to route such requests through the inspector-general of police and obtain his personal clearance.

He asked the minister of interior to work with the IGP and the civil defence corps to replace police officers currently deployed on special duties.

He also instructed the NSA and the DSS to set up a committee to review existing security arrangements, noting that the country faces persistent threats from kidnapping and terrorism and must maximise all available security assets.

The Nigerian Senate has expressed serious concerns over the withdrawal of Police orderlies attached to senators, worried that the move could expose members to unnecessary danger.

Worried about the situation, Deputy President of the Senate , Barau Jibrin disclosed that the leadership of the Senate held an emergency meeting on the issue on Tuesday, with the hope of positive feedback as it seeks to secure
exemption for lawmakers from the Presidential directive.

President Bola Tinubu had on the 23rd of November issued a stern directive calling for the withdrawal of Police officers attached to “Very Important Persons”, VIPs in the country to make available more hands to tackle Nigeria’s internal security challenges.

About 11, 000 police officers are currently engaged on such assignments across the country.

The push for possible exemption for Senators followed a Point of Order by Senator, Abdul Ningi, (PDP, Bauchi Central), who lamented the withdrawal of his lone police orderly in compliance with the directive of the President.

Ningi said while he has no issues with the withdrawal , he expressed disappointment at the manner the directive of the President is being flouted and called for a strict compliance with the directive starting from the Presidency, the Office of the Vice President , and Federal Ministers.

The Bauchi Senator said while his own police orderly has been withdrawn, he continues to see some businessmen including Chinese citizens and celebrity singers being escorted by contingents of police officers in brazen disregard to the directive of the President.

Based on the revelations by Senator Ningi, the Senate mandated its Committee on Police Affairs to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged disregard of the President’s directive .

The Committee has 4 weeks to complete the assignment and revert to senate at plenary.

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has criticised what he described as the excessive deployment of security operatives around the families of people in the governments.

Soyinka, during the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, recounted his recent encounter with what he termed a “battalion-level” security detail attached to the president’s son (Seyi Tinubu) at a hotel in Ikoyi, the previous day.

Soyinka said that he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of heavily armed personnel he saw attached to the president’s son :

“I was coming out of my hotel, and I saw what looked like a film set.

“A young man detached himself from the actors, came over and greeted me politely. When I asked if they were shooting a film, he said no. I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel, ” said Soyinka.

According to him, about 15 heavily armed officers formed the president’s son’s security cordon—an arrangement he found alarming.

“When I got back in my car and asked the driver who the young man was, he told me. And I saw this SWAT team, heavily armed to the teeth. They looked sufficient to take over a neighbouring small country or city like Benin,” he said.

He emphasised that while heads of state often have families, such privilege must never be abused or allowed to distort national security structures.

“Children should know their place. They are not potentates; they are not heads of state.

“The security architecture of a nation suffers when we see such heavy devotion of security to one young individual,” he said.