The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Friday said the alarming spate of insecurity has scared away foreign and local investors and deprived Nigeria the benefit of attracting direct investments.

Lawan made this assertion in his speech as the chairman at a National Policy Dialogue on Corruption and Insecurity in Nigeria, organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in Abuja.

The Senate President, according to a statement by his Special Assistant (Press), Ezrel Tabiowo, however commended the Armed Forces for the sustained fight against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping in the last one month.

He lauded the military for flushing and neutralising insurgents and terrorists in states such as Kaduna, Niger, and Zamfara in particular.

Lawan said: “Only recently, the President gave a marching order to the Armed Forces to extinguish bandits, kidnappers and other criminal agents against the state and her citizens, by December 2022. This administration is committed to achieving this set target.

“Accordingly, the past few weeks have seen security agencies flushing out terrorists from their hideouts in Kaduna Birnin-gwari axis, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto.

“Similar results were recorded in Niger, where, like in Kaduna, the Nigerian Airforce neutralised many terrorists.”