The Nigerian Senate has called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to beef up security to counter the high incidence of kidnapping in the Lagos East Senatorial District.

Moving the motion under matters of urgent need for the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies to intervene in the increasing rate of kidnapping in the zone and secure waterways at the plenary session on Tuesday, Senator Gbenga Ashafa described the rate of incidence of kidnapping in the state as having escalated to a point where the safety of citizens was no longer guaranteed.

Senator Ashafa equally observed that the activities of criminal syndicate have caused untold hardship to the people of Lagos East Senatorial ‎District, saying that intervention of the Federal Government is urgently required.

‎Senate advised the Federal Government to direct the Inspector General of Police to instruct the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State to beef up the task force already on ground in order to effectively secure all the affected creeks and communities.

In another development, the Senate has initiated moves to harmonise the different versions and copies of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in circulation into one authentic whole.

This followed a motion moved by Senator Chukwuka Utazi of Enugu North, who asked the Senate to mandate its committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and legal matters to liaise with the National Judicial council, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and law reforms Committee, to constitute a Law Review Committee to withdraw the copies of the different versions of the constitution in circulation and authorise the printing and distribution of authentic and consolidated constitution.

Senator Utazi noted that since 1999, the constitution has successfully gone through three alterations and, in each case, amending various provisions to bring them in conformity with contemporary democratic realities and practice.

The Senate also raised concerns that the existence of various versions of the constitution makes it an unreliable source of law, and susceptible to misinterpretation by mischief makers.

The committee was, however, given a mandate to consolidate the constitution with different alterations embedded where they belong to make it a whole document to guide the generality of the Nigerian populace and the international community.

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