The Senator representing Delta North in the Senate, Ned Nwoko, has made a case for the bill he recently proposed.
Nwoko’s proposal comes after over 200 people were killed in attacks on about 23 villages in Plateau state from 24th to 26th December, with many others injured and hundreds of houses razed amid the worsening insecurity in the country.
Premium Politics gathered that the Boko Haram terrorists, in a fresh attack on Friday, killed a pastor of the Church of Christ in Nations, Geidam, Yobe State, Luka Levong, and the church’s treasurer, Maina Abdullahi.
However during an in interview on Arise News on Friday, the Senator argued that citizens are scared and need a form of security to survive.
He said, “It is not something I just thought about, I’ve been here all my life, practically, except when I spent time UK studying and working. But here in Nigeria, I understand the system, I understand the people, people are angry, people are frustrated.
“But of course, it is not the only solution, the other solution is to make sure that the economy works. If the economy works and people are gainfully employed or people are able to do businesses and the police are able to protect people, the police are able to guide people, there won’t be any need for people to be armed as I’m proposing.
“What is happening is that people are desperately in need of survival, so must of these guys who are kidnappers or terrorists as you call them, or whatever nomenclature you want to use to describe them is that they are desperate. One would not justify what they are doing that has led them to this theatre of anarchy, however, if we want to change the narrative, we must look at the economy. People should be able to have access to financing, people should be able to borrow money, people should be able to live comfortably, we should be able to grow our economy from within, we should be able to think less of the dollar and think of how we can make naira much more competitive globally.”
The Senator had earlier proposed a bill that would permit civilians to own firearms for their personal safety in the wake of the recent Plateau killings.
Nwoko had said, “An amendment bill allowing civilian firearm ownership must be introduced in the Senate.”