WorldStage– In a strategic bid to reinforce parliamentary control over Nigeria’s security institutions, Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday announced fresh leadership for four key Senate committees.
It is an overhaul that underscores the upper chamber’s increasingly assertive posture on national security oversight.
Akpabio, who made the announcement during plenary, named Senator Shehu Buba (Bauchi South) as Chairman of the Committee on Livestock and Animal Husbandry, a sector now recognised as central to the country’s security and rural stability due to persistent clashes, banditry and herder-related conflicts.
He also appointed Senator Abdullahi Yahaya (Kebbi North) as Chairman of the influential Committee on National Intelligence and National Security, placing him at the heart of the Senate’s scrutiny of intelligence operations and counter-terrorism efforts.
Senator Osita Ngwu (Enugu West) was designated Acting Chairman of the Committee on Air Force, while Senator Musa Mustapha (Yobe East) emerged Chairman of the Committee on National Planning, a portfolio critical to aligning development goals with the country’s evolving security priorities.
The reshuffle comes barely a week after the Senate took the unprecedented step of dissolving its Committees on National Security & Intelligence and the Air Force on November 26, following a motion moved by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele.
That dissolution was accompanied by a sweeping directive compelling all security-related committees, including those on Army, Navy, Defence, Interior and Police Affairs, to submit detailed reports of their oversight activities within one week, and subsequently appear before the Senate in a closed session.
The restructuring, insiders say, reflects the Senate’s growing determination to demand accountability and recalibrate its oversight mechanisms amid worsening security challenges across the country.
With the new committee heads now in place, all eyes are on how quickly they will respond to the Senate’s renewed push for transparency, efficiency and results within Nigeria’s sprawling security framework.
