Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

The newly-elected President of the Senate, Ahmad LAWAN , has said that the 8th Assembly under the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki performed below expectations, Native Reporters learnt.

Lawan, who spoke while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Jumat prayers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, however assured that under his leadership, Nigerians will see a National Assembly that is focused, united, patriotic and nationalistic.

He assured that under his leadership, the parliament would work hard to catch up with the lost grounds wasted under the Senator Saraki-led leadership over the last four years, adding: “I am sure we did not perform to our capacity as a National Assembly in the last National Assembly.

“This time around we want to perform to full capacity and by the grace of God Nigerians will see a positive difference in terms of delivery of service to our country men and women.

“From my interactions with my colleagues when I was contesting, every senator there when I was contesting, has one massive experience or another. I saw my colleagues exhibited patriotism and desire to work for Nigerians and therefore we hope to have a National Assembly that will work for Nigerians optimally and patriotically.

“We are in a hurry, we are thirsty to perform, we want to support Mr. President, we want to see Mr. President achieve those legacies and dreams that he has and we are going to work full-course and full-time to ensure that we give him the maximum support that he requires.”

Lawan also assured that the 9th National Assembly will work with the executive arm of government in partnership and synergy to ensure that they perform their functions as a government because “we are a single unit.”

The President of the Senate said the National Assembly would insist that whoever has a responsibility in government performs that responsibility because “it takes all of us to work together to ensure that no part or nobody is left behind. If there is anyone that is deficient it would cost the system,” he added.On prompt passage of budget, he noted:

“This is a crucial thing that worries everyone, every Nigerian wants to see the National Assembly pass the budget in good time and what we have in mind we’ve campaigned with that and it is something both of us in the National Assembly have bought into – that we’ll pass the budget within three months by the grace of God.

“But it takes two sides of government to pass the budget in good time and I am sure that the executive side of the government would like to present the budget before the National Assembly in good time – in September or early October and by the grace of God we in the National Assembly will ensure that we carry out the budget defence and do the remaining parts of the processes.

“Before we leave for Christmas break, the budget would have been passed and Mr. President would have had the budget before him to sign and assent. “This requires sacrifice in the National Assembly and the Executive side of the government that we create a window for budget defence only, a dedicated period and timeframe- say a month of which only budget defence would be carried out in the National Assembly.

“It is our desire in the National Assembly that every minister, every chief executive officer of every agency comes to the National Assembly and defend the budget of his or her agency before going out of the country. That window is going to be available within the one month, but that is the only window that is going to be available.

“After that for example, every minister or head of agency who did not come to defend the budget of that institution, the National Assembly would go ahead to work on such a budget appropriately.”He said that nobody would take pleasure in wasting the time of “this administration.”

The chairman, governing board, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Babangida Nguroje, has tasked the newly elected leadership of the National Assembly on legislations that will fast track Nigeria’s  development.

He specifically urged Senate President Ahmad Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to ensure that laws and ratifications that would move Nigeria away from a mono-economy and consuming nation to a diversified and heavily manufacturing country were passed.

He said in Abuja yesterday that Nigerians had high expectations from the current administration and that the National Assembly should provide the legislative support for programmes of the executive. He also urged all the members of the National Assembly to treat every issue before them as representatives of the people and not on the basis of party affiliation, religion or ethnicity.

Senator Ahmad Lawan, a senator from Yobe North and the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a man of destiny. An erudite Nigerian, a geographer of note, Lawan began his educational career in Sabon Gari Primary School, Gashua in 1974 before gaining admission to Government Secondary School, Gashua all in Yobe state where he got his O’Level in 1979.

He proceeded to University of Maiduguri to obtain a bachelor degree in Geography in 1984. He then went to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna state for his Master’s degree in Remote Sensing, and PhD in same from Canfield University (UK) in 1996.

He began his working career at the Yobe state civil service as education officer in the state ministry of education in 1985-86. He later got a teaching job at University of Maiduguri where he lectured for ten years from 1987-1997 before venturing into politics. 

The senate president was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 where he served as house committee chairman on education and agriculture at various times. As a respected representative, he was a member of the joint National Assembly committee that reviewed the 1999 Constitution. As a true representative of his people, he spoke and stood against the establishment of Kafin Zaki Dam in 2009. His reason for refusal of the dam was not a deliberate act to wish away development for his people but that development should be for increase and not ill wind that blows no one any good. 

When he defended his stance on the floor of the green chamber, the law maker told his colleagues that Riga Dam and Challawa Gorge Dam had already reduced water flow drastically and Jama’are River had become the only source of water in Yobe River. He graphically enumerated that the dams had caused intense poverty, increased desert encroachment, migration and conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.

Lawan was elected senator in 2007 on the platform of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and served as senate committee chairman on Public Account in 2009. He initiated and sponsored Desertification Control Commission Bill. He was re-electe in 2015 this time on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Ahmed Lawan was senate majority leader in 2016 before the dissolution of the 8th Senate.

 When APC took over the affairs of the country as ruling party in 2015, the National Assembly was riddled with controversies as the party alleged that the principal officers of the 8th National Assembly were sponsored by opposition to cause disaffection between the executive and the legislature to frustrate the government on their campaign promises to the people.

Upon re-election in the 2019 general election, the party went into real work to bring compatriots and party loyalists to let Nigerians and indeed the world to know that what the people saw and witnessed in the first tenure was a deliberate scheming by dissident and desperate politicians to discredit the ruling party. After diligent search by the ruling party for who can bail the cat, the lot fell on Senator Ahmed Lawan.

The ruling party did not just come to the conclusion of anointing a favoured lawmaker, but antecedent of the Yobe North senator attests that he is a party man and that his loyalty and belief in the ruling party speak volume for him. For instance, when he was given the assignment as senate ad-hoc committee chairman on Southern Kaduna crisis and other troubled spots in the North, his record was legendary.

This was not alone; also as he served as chairman senate committee on defense, his performance was near perfection, if not it. Senate President  Lawan is a man who talks less but speaks through his results and achievements.

While he held forth as chairman senate ad-hoc committee on Southern Kaduna, the distance between peace and the people was just between thin lines. There were times that speculations were rife that security agents were complicit in the serial killings in the area, many adduced government complacency for the killings alluding ethnic cleansing, but Senator Lawan through his indefatigable performances, was able to bring that under control.

No wonder that when the search was on for the ruling party to find a man for the job of the 9th senate president, Senator Ahmed Lawan’s name refused to diminish.

Those APC top echelons who found Senator Lawan suitable for the job may have probably seen in him a man who never lost a fight. For instance, he defeated a sitting senator to represent Yobe North in the red chamber in 2007.

On his way to the senate presidency, the only stubborn senator who declined to step down for him in the battle for the plum job may not have have known that Senator Lawan is a man who climbs any mountain without blinking an eye no matter how steep. Lawan was made senate majority leader, taking the red carpet off the feet of those who decline to make him the sole candidate for the contest. However, when the chips were down, Lawan proved that reward for hard work is not earned on the pages of newspapers but through diligent and persistent job.

As the senate president settles for the job, Nigerians expect that what were the cogs for the 8th senate because of vendetta and power game will give for cohesion. For instance, the issue of late passage of appropriation bills and padding will now find its way to the dustbin. The hydra headed trouble of insecurity will be attended to with a permanent solution.

As an achiever, Senator Ahmad Lawan holds the traditional titles of Dan Masanin Bade and Garkuwan Daliban Gumui. He is a recipient of national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

The senate president has attended scores of courses both at home and overseas, among them are the 3rd Westminster Workshop on Public Accounts Committee (House of Parliament), London, Oxford Strategic Leadership (OSLP) Programme (SAID Business School University of Oxford, Professional Development Course on Canadian Taxation System Carlton University, Managing Terms for Innovation and Success Programme (Stamford University School of Business) etc.     

Senate President Ahmed Lawan, having seen politicking and chicanery at both chambers of the National Assembly, first at the House of Representatives and then the senate, the senate president knows he cannot fail his fatherland, the party that gave him the auspices of election and the electorate, hence the mission to rescue Nigeria.

Habeeb writes from
No 4, Kagarko Road, Ungwan Dosa,
Kaduna.

– But says he’ll act on recommendations of EU Mission

The Presidency has welcomed the report of the European Union (EU) on the 2019 general elections in Nigeria, promising to analyze it fully and act on the recommendations, claiming that the EU did not question the results of the presidential election.

In a statement by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government noted that the EU observers had been invited to the country by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The statement said: “This was a clear indication of the administration’s good intentions, commitment to a pure democratic process, and desire to improve for the next elections. The EU noted in their report that there were marked improvements from previous elections, although stating that more work needed to be done.

“The administration of President Buhari will work with all Nigerian citizens, state institutions, parties, civil society, the media, and other experts to make sure that the improvements recommended by the EU are implemented, and that these areas of concern are addressed.”

According to Shehu, it is noteworthy that INEC is in receipt of a number of recommendations that form a part of the EU report.

Shehu, therefore, stated that commission is in safe hands and “happy that they are currently engaged in root and branch reviews of the 2019 general elections and will input lessons learned into its recommendations for electoral and constitutional reforms”.

He added in the statement: “We believe that the commission conducted a good election and will continue to improve on its processes and procedures. While it is regretted that the elections in a few parts of the country witnessed some violence, among other shortcomings highlighted by the EU, we note however that none of these hitches affected the overall outcome of the elections.

“Thankfully, the EU did not question the results of the presidential election. For instance, on page 3 in its Executive Summary, the EU said:

 “positively, the elections were competitive, parties were overall able to campaign and civil society enhanced accountability,” Shehu claimed.

“The report also acknowledged that INEC made a number of improvements, including making electoral participation more accessible through simplified voting procedures.”

According to the report, INEC made efforts to strengthen electoral integrity by issuing regulations making smart card readers mandatory, the statement added.

On page 4, the EU noted that the elections were competitive with a large number of candidates for all seats although the competition was primarily between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.

According to the report ‘‘parties and candidates were overall able to campaign, with freedoms of assembly, expression and movement broadly respected.’’

It said further that on Page 5, the report noted that the EU EOM media monitoring over 46 days showed federal government-owned Radio’s commitment to balanced election coverage.

“It said that positively in almost all observations party agents received copies of the results forms, adding that the National Collation Centre for the presidential election was open to party agents and observers, and was continuously televised

“Again on page 37, the report said the national collation Centre for the presidential results was open to party agents, observers, and the media with each state’s results projected on a large screen. ‘There was continuous live television coverage and the media published the results as announced by INEC, thereby increasing access to results information’.

“Page 41 under section Results and Stakeholder Reaction, EU said:

 ‘‘YIAGA Africa announced that the results were consistent with its parallel vote tabulation that INDEPENDENTLY projected the results based on a sample of 1,515 polling units.

The two leading parties won 96.8% of the valid votes between them,’’ the statement explained.

As you assume the prestigious position of President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I join other Nigerians in wishing you Allah’s guidance in steering the affairs of this auspicious chamber.

Your ascension to the position of Senate President, is indeed a reward for years of patience and steadfastness in the pursuit of the agenda of the common man.

My team and I will continue to work with you with utmost support, loyalty and patriotism throughout your tenure as Senate President.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Signed:
………
Abdulkadir Mohd Lawal,
Media Office, Office of the Distiingush Senator,
Ahmed Babba Kaita, Katsina North.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is working with state governments in North West of the country to revamp security structures and operations,  following infiltration of bandits.

The repositioning of security apparatus comes at the heels of killings and destruction of property in some states, which includes the recent attacks in Zamfara that left 34 people dead in Tungar Kafau and Gidan Wawa, Shinkafi Local Government Area.

While extending condolences to government and people of Sokoto and Zamfara States for loses in recent attacks, the President has directed immediate implementation of the long-term strategic security plan for the geopolitical zone, which was collectively drawn by security agencies and state governments.

Under the security plan, states working with Federal Government will support security and military operations with logistics and local intelligence. To strengthen the loop and scale up surveillance, the Federal Government is establishing new forward operational bases.

As part of the plan, the National Emergency Management Agency and State Emergency Management Agencies are expected to streamline operations to provide succour for displaced persons, many of whom are taking refuge in neighbouring Niger Republic and ensure their return under protection.

President Buhari assures all Nigerians of his administration’s full commitment to protect life and property of citizens.

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
June 16, 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerian universities to intensify efforts at making discoveries and inventions that can assist the development of the country.

Mr Buhari made the call on Saturday in Dutsinma, Katsina State, in his address at the fourth convocation of the Federal University, Dutsinma, FUDMA.

The president, represented by Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, the former Deputy Governor of Kano State, said that part of the speech would serve as a wake-up call to the nation’s universities.

“Research, critical thinking, moral dispositions, discoveries and inventions should find natural habitats in our universities, as they do in several other universities in the world.

“Universities are supposed to be strong drivers of the country’s development initiatives for sustainable development,” he said.

He challenged the universities for being slow in aspects of discoveries and inventions.

“It is not heart-warming that in our over 58 years of independence, Nigerian universities are slow in discoveries and inventions,” he said.

He, however, said that his administration would continue to do everything possible to improve structures and facilities in the institutions, and to enhance learning by training the required manpower through various interventions like TETFUND.

Mr Buhari also urged FUDMA to partner with Sokoto River Basin Development Authority to produce improved agricultural varieties and give the required scientific and extension support to the local farmers.

He said that this would enhance the farmers’ productivity and economic viability.

In his remarks, the acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adamu Baba-Kutigi, said that 430 students were graduating from the institution for the 2017/2018 session.

According to him, the university, whose vision is to be among the top-ranking universities in the world, has seven faculties that run about 40 programmes.

He disclosed that the institution had established microfinance bank, university farm, printing press and a shopping mall to enhance its internally generated revenue.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that prizes were given to some students for their excellent performances.

A SENATE THAT WORKS FOR NIGERIANS: ACCEPTANCE SPEECH DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OF THE 9th SENATE, DISTINGUISHED SENATOR AHMAD LAWAN, PH.D,CON TUESDAY, 11TH OF JUNE, 2019,

Protocols

My fellow Distinguished Senators, I am pleased and privileged to stand before you today to commence a historic journey of selfless service as President of the 9th Senate. This is an extremely special moment for me. I humbly and gratefully accept my election as the President of the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am deeply grateful to all my Distinguished Colleagues who overwhelmingly elected me to lead the 9th Senate as first among equals and for their gracious concession, I declare myself your Humble Servant and you Distinguished Senators as my true bosses in every sense of the word.

I acknowledge and salute three categories of people: your families and friends for their support and sacrifice; your various political parties on whose platforms you stood for election, and our constituents for their invaluable trust and goodwill in electing us into this position.

To all my fellow contestants, I say this is our collective victory for it was a very hard-fought campaign. They all did well. Permit me to pay a personal tribute to Distinguished Senator Danjuma Goje and others who withdrew from the race and graciously endorsed me. I am deeply grateful. Senator Ali Ndume put up a dogged fight and gave the race added-value. You all have worked tirelessly over the years and in particular in the past few months and I owe all of you Distinguished colleagues a debt of gratitude for your sterling services to our country. I congratulate all of us for the friendliness and camaraderie that was demonstrated during the intensive but rancour free campaign.

The elections are over and we are all back together in the spirit of one indivisible Senate, united in our commitment to work for the Nigerian people. Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our institution and renewing the Nigerian dream. I’ve spent the last 20 years learning the ropes of how to make the National Assembly work better. In this humbling and extremely critical role you have all agreed to assign to me, I pledge to do my best to serve the best interest of the institution, its members and the good people of Nigeria.

Today’s epochal event is symbolic in many respects. It marks the beginning of another decade in the annals of the country’s federal legislature, recognizing that the Fourth Republic National Assembly was first inaugurated twenty years ago, on June 4, 1999. So, today, as we commence the 3rd uninterrupted decade of our National Parliament, we pledge to remake, reform and revitalise the Senate in line with our constitutional duties, the urgent expectation of our citizens and global parliamentary best practices.

Our determination is to evolve a well-resourced Senate with a vision and a great sense of commitment to securing a prosperous future for our great nation. I strongly believe that for the 9th Senate to live up to this declaration, it must be operated as an institution that is largely accountable, participatory, collaborative and responsive to the needs, aspirations, rights and liberties of the masses whose mandate we hold in trust.

Let me reassure my Distinguished colleagues that in the discharge of my duties as the President of the 9th Senate, I will be fair and just to all, irrespective of party affiliations, religious and ethnic extractions. I, therefore, solicit for unalloyed support of all my Distinguished Colleagues. Together, we can reinvent a vibrant, robust and result-oriented Senate.

In the 9th Senate no dream is too big to imagine, no challenge is too great to surmount. We will pursue our goal of a better and brighter future, we will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We will work with and collaborate with other arms of government to reclaim our country and restore our values. We will dream big, aim high and take bold initiatives. To this end, I will work with my colleagues to build actionable consensus around a robust legislative agenda that serves the best interest of majority of our people.

To this end, we will focus on improving the institutional capacity and capabilities of the Senate for effective performance of its constitutional and political duties in the most cost effective and service enhancing manner. Issues such as bill and motion progression and tracking, enhanced internal operations and funding of committees, an open and ICT enabled Senate will be on our front burner.

We are going to work collaboratively with the executive arm of government to strengthen our planning and budget linkage that ensures effective service delivery and fulfilment of essential government obligations to the citizens, while taking care of the perennial delays in our annual appropriation bill passage and implementation.

We will embark upon a sustained pursuit of national ethical renewal, through legislative and political support for the fight against corruption and other major security challenges that Nigeria faces today, namely; rural and highway banditry; inter-ethnic conflicts; herdsmen and farmer conflicts, cattle rustling; kidnapping and all other forms of criminality in the country.

We have a plan to make Nigeria an economic growth hub and the most sought after business destination in Africa. This is to be achieved through legislative and policy coordination with the Executive Arm of Government to put in place the necessary reforms and legal instruments that promote the diversification and investment in the critical (real and service) sectors of the Nigerian economy.

We will frontally address the current high level of youth unemployment, underemployment and high use of illicit drugs as well as depression and high rate of suicide.

At the same time, we will collaborate with the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly, with a view to having legislative partnerships that address the existential challenges of corruption, insecurity, emerging criminal gangs, kidnaping, poverty, decayed educational system that has left Nigeria with an embarrassing reported figure of 14 million out of school children.

I want to seize this opportunity to tell the entire nation, particularly those that are in doubt, that the Senate and indeed the legislature is going to operate independently in accordance with its own rules, procedures and time honoured norms and best practices. While working closely with the executive arm to deliver the dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.

Our legislative agenda must focus on enacting laws and strengthening existing laws to facilitate the reforms required to truly take our nation, our people and our economy to the next level.

Within us as a Senate, our leadership will commit to partnership rather than partisanship and between us and the executive arm of Government, we will choose unity of purpose over conflict and discord while also working towards further strengthening and guaranteeing our independence and that of the judiciary. We will sustain and strengthen our institutional working relationship with critical stakeholders especially the Civil Society Organizations, the Media and Development Partners within and outside Nigeria.

In conclusion, let it be said that we have come to this chamber conscious of the trust our constituents have reposed on us. Dear colleagues, we must not betray that trust. To this extent, in the next four years, we must drive a transformative Senate dedicated to serving the people with confidence, courage and patriotism. Indeed, the urgent task towards socio-economic reforms and transformation through legislative intervention has begun.

In so doing, we are convinced that our past was only a story told while our future can yet be written in gold.

I thank you all,

May God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.

SENATOR AHMAD IBRAHIM LAWAN, Ph.D; CON
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday said he has approved N208billion as part of 2019 intervention through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund for infrastructural and teacher development in public tertiary institutions

The president said the intervention was part of his administration’s effort to address the deficiencies in all the segments of our educational system.

Buhari disclosed this at the 23rd convocation of the University of Abuja on Saturday.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Sonny Echono, Buhari said his administration would continue to provide funding that would address some of the challenges in the nation’s public institutions.

The President said that the university system must continue to search for solutions to the nation’s developmental needs.

Buhari said: “There is no doubt that Nigeria will be a global player in the emerging knowledge economy. What is required is to ensure the quality of our human capital and also maintain the desirable balance for sustainable national socio-economic growth and development.

“The present administration will continue to improve on the infrastructural facilities in the universities, promote teacher development and curriculum review.

“It is in furtherance of this that I recently approved the disbursement of N208billion to public tertiary institutions under the 2019 intervention of the TETFUND.

“The government will continue to look into the issues raised by the universities especially regarding physical development and will equally monitor the universities closely. I also seize this opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the Federal Government to addressing youth unemployment.”

Buhari noted that for the country’s education system to favour it, the curriculum must focus on the development of entrepreneurial skills of the individuals and encourage research and innovations.

He said the National Universities Commission has put in place motion to address the country’s curriculum and the minimum qualification for university teachers.

According to him, the combined effect of these measures should improve the quality of “our school system and graduates as well as prepare the products of our educational system to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s work place.

“This certainly impact greatly in the effort to generate employment, reduce the high rate of poverty and the incidence of social deviance in the country,” he added.

Buhari said that his administration would not rest until youth unemployment was reduced to the barest minimum.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Michael Adikwu, said a total of 4,946 students graduated from the institution.

Prof Adikwu said the university awarded 24 First Class Honours.

Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, has suggested what the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government needs do to be able to tackle corruption effectively.

He said there would only be little or no success in corruption fight in Nigeria if the justice system is not properly sanitised and the justice sector reformed.

He also said that government must check billions of naira political leaders spend as security votes in the country if it intends to succeed in graft fight.

Ribadu, who was the pioneer chairman of the EFCC, spoke on Friday, during a convocation lecture at the Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State.

The former EFCC boss had earlier in his speech claimed that “nothing positively significant” happened in corruption fight under the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He regretted how the country’s national resources over the years got “squandered and largely stolen by those who had the responsibility of managing them,” and how oil wells were “shared to individuals at will.”

He said, “Years of mindless stealing and waste of public resources has dimmed the light of prosperity that was all over our country at Independence. Little wonder that we now find ourselves in tough economic condition with the attendant security challenges troubling us from all angles.

He noted that previous administrations put in place stringent measures to help fight corruption like the setting up of relevant anti-graft agencies.

He said, “The Obasanjo administration also went on to evolve other institutional avenues of fighting corruption by carrying out wide-ranging public service reform and establishing pro-transparency agencies such as the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

“Nothing positively significant happened in the fight against corruption since then, until the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. It is instructive that the Buhari administration rode to power on the back of its promise to tackle corruption which was pervasive under the immediate past administration.”

On what must be done to ensure success in graft fight he said:

“There would only be limited or no success in anti-corruption campaign if the justice system is not properly sanitised to shoulder that important responsibility. Every individual within the chain of the justice sector needs to be above board, those who cannot uphold the basic tenets of integrity needed for such job should be shoved aside.

“The practice of political leaders spending humongous amounts of money in the name of security votes should also be checked. For example, I see no reason for governors and some other officeholders to be expending billions of naira without budgetary provisions or accountability under the vague code of security.”