The Senate has charged the military to take the battle against bandits.
It asked the Federal Government to release fighter jets to flush out terrorists from their hideouts.
These are some of the resolutions taken by the Senate after a debate on worsening insecurity in the country.
Bandits have been on the rampage in Northwest states of Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara and Niger State in the Northcentral, killing hundreds and displacing communities.
The debate was on a motion sponsored by Senator Bello Mandiya and titled: “Urgent need for the Federal Government to take drastic actions to bring to an end the act of banditry and kidnapping in Faskari Local Government Area.”
According to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, the cases make it imperative for the military to “wake up” to protect Nigerians.
He said: “This Senate expects that there is supposed to be a remarkable difference in success in terms of the fight against insurgency, banditry and militancy in Nigeria.
“The military is getting better funding from the government and what we expect is to see an improvement in output.
“I know the resources are not enough, but recently, for one and a half years, the government has upscaled the level of funding for our military.
“Secondly, when we declared bandits as terrorists, my understanding was they are going to be dealt with ruthlessly now. I wonder whether that is the case.
“The military, as some of our colleagues have said, need to wake up. We want to see a difference because we have made a difference in terms of funding.
“I know funding alone will not be enough, but funding can make a difference and we expect a difference in the outcome.
“Thirdly, we need to mobilise our citizens, because when a hundred people are kidnapped and abducted, they are not taken by aircraft; they are taken by motorbikes, pass through the villages and possibly towns. How do we then say that nobody has seen something?
“We need our citizens to be part and parcel of our security architecture. There’s no way we can achieve better security for this country without the participation of the citizens in the fight against insecurity.”
