It made the call on Wednesday while considering a motion brought by Senator Mohammed Saleh and 10 others on terrorists attacks in the country.
The Senate also said it would meet with President Goodluck Jonathan with the recommendations of its Committees on Police Affairs, Defence and Army and National Security and Intelligence conclude their oversight on the security agencies.
After debating the motion, the Senate resolved to call the attention of the Federal Government that the terrorists had declared war on Nigeria and had threatened the sovereignty of the country.
It said, "The Senate resolves to call on the Federal Government to recognise that these terrorists have declared war on Nigeria, which is a threat to our sovereignty, existence and economic wellbeing and to respond with all instruments of national power at its disposal."
The Senate urged its committees on National Intelligence, Defence and Army, and Police Affairs to intensify their oversight functions over the security agencies with a view to improving their capabilities in handling the current security challenges facing the country.
In addition, the committees had earlier held a meeting with the security chiefs on the state of security in the country, and were directed to immediately submit their report to the Senate for its consideration.
Although it unanimously condemned the spate of bombings and killings by the terrorists, the Senate however turned down the prayer to have compensations paid to the victims of bomb blasts by the government.
Presenting the motion, Senator Saleh dwelt on the Easter Sunday attack in Kaduna, but other senators commenting, drew the attention of the Senate to the fact that the attacks had continued unabated in other parts of the north.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Security and National Intelligence, Senate Mohammed Magoro, said although the amount budgeted for the security agencies appeared to be huge, the money would do little to meet the equipment need of the agencies.
He said there was a need for an intervention supplementary budget to take care of gaps in the budgetary provisions to security agencies.
George Sekibo, who chairs the committee on Defence and Army, told the Senate that out of the total budget to the Army, only N5bn was for capital and available for procuring needed security equipment.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Paulinus Igwe, also noted that only N9bn was provided for the Police as capital budget, which would barely meet the needs of agency in the fight against terrorism.
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I think searchlight should be beamed on the nation's security agencies to probe recurrent expenditures in these agencies. How can one reconcile the fact that of the huge budgetary allocation to the Security Forces, only N5b and N9b is for capital project for the Army and Police respectively? It means all the rest goes to recurrent expenditure and pockets of the Chiefs.
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