The Senate has cut short its ongoing recess and recalled lawmakers for an emergency plenary session to address urgent national issues, with insecurity topping the agenda.
According to a notice dated June 15 and signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, senators have been directed to reconvene at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja on Tuesday, June 23, by 11:00 a.m.
The notice explained that the emergency sitting was convened on the directive of Senate President Godswill Akpabio to allow lawmakers deliberate on critical matters affecting the country.
“The purpose of this emergency sitting is to enable the Senate to consider matters of urgent national importance, particularly issues relating to national security and other critical concerns that require immediate legislative attention,” the notice stated.
The Senate also apologised for any inconvenience caused by the recall and urged members to make arrangements to attend.
The decision comes just days after both chambers of the National Assembly embarked on recess, with lawmakers originally scheduled to resume plenary on July 7, 2026. The break was meant to allow members observe the Democracy Day holiday and carry out constituency engagements.
However, worsening security concerns and renewed calls for decisive action against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping have prompted the Senate to return earlier than planned.
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The recall follows President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day address, in which he vowed that terrorists and their sponsors would receive no mercy. The President said more than 13,000 terrorists had been eliminated over the past year and claimed that deaths linked to terrorism had fallen significantly since 2015.
Despite these gains, Tinubu acknowledged that the continued captivity of schoolchildren abducted in Oyo and Borno states remained a painful challenge for the nation.
The emergency session is also expected to coincide with ongoing constitutional amendment efforts aimed at restructuring Nigeria’s security system.
Last week, both the Senate and the House of Representatives advanced proposals for the creation of state police by moving to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow decentralised policing.
The bill seeks to transfer policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, giving states the authority to establish and manage their own police formations. The Senate has already passed the proposal for second rreading
Lawmakers are expected to use the June 23 sitting to review the country’s security situation and consider additional legislative measures aimed at addressing the growing threat posed by criminal groups across the country.
