The 36 governors in the country Wednesday shunned the two-day Summit on National Security organized by Senate in Abuja.
The governors who were officially invited to the summit neither attended nor their representatives.
The boycott might not be unconnected with the divergent views the governors who in recent past have been faced with some security infrations on how they could control and own state police to contain with such.
However, the Presidency threw its weight behind state and community policing to address the prevailing wave of insecurity across the country.
Declaring open a two-day Summit, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said that every Nigerian deserves the protection of his life and property, admitted that there were instances where security agencies failed to properly and urgently respond to security issues.
Osinbajo, who noted that the police as currently structured was too defective to address the growing insecurity in the country, stressed the need for the number of Police personnel to be increased drastically, just as he cautioned stakeholders in the country not to allow the present insecurity challenges assume religious dimension.
The Vice President, who recalled some of the litany of killings in many parts of the country last month, outlined the measures the government had taken to fight insecurity since it assumed power and the gains; and why cattle ranching should be supported, said policing a large country like Nigeria is not something that should be done from the federal capital, Abuja.
Also speaking at the summit, Bukola Saraki, Senate President said what was required at the moment to nip in the bud cases of killings, kidnappings, mayhem and general lawlessness was a leadership with the will to douse the flickering flames on insecurity and reduce the tension in the land.
