Chairman of the senate committee on army, Senator Ali Ndume, on Saturday said that the President Buhari led federal government is not serious about addressing the security challenges currently bedevilling the country.

Mr. Ndume, during a press briefing in Abuja, stated that the workforce of security agencies in the country is not enough to adequately carter for its entire population.

The Borno South senator who wants more troops recruited, said that having less than 800,000 security operatives including para-military for a population of more than 200 million people is too low.

“The number of security personnel in the country including Customs, Immigration, Police, Army etc. is not up to 800,000, in a country with a population of 200 million, a country like that is not serious in terms of addressing security challenges,” Mr. Ndume said

“The Nigerian army that are engaged in more than 32 states in this country right now because of the need to address some of the serious security threat are not up to 160,000. The Nigerian police total population is not up to 400,000, in a country where you have security threat here and there and everywhere,” he added.

He advised the government to prioritise the country’s security, adding that peace does not come cheap.

The activities of bandits in the Northern region have become very worrisome, recently leading to the closure of schools in some states across the region.

On Thursday night, Bandits kidnapped an unspecified number of students at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Mando.

Not limited to school children abduction, bandits have also wreaked havoc on communities, constantly abducting and killing commuters in the region.