Victoria Ojugbana, Lagos
The Lagos State government has confirmed that it has, this year, with the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) and the active support of the private sector, procured and deployed security assets for the use of the Nigeria Police Force.
The items included “180 vehicles, 200 motorbikes, eight Armoured Personnel Carriers, two water cannons, cellular communication devices, Level IV bulletproof vests, ballistic helmets, and other items, worth over N3 billion.”
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu stated this on Tuesday during the 15th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security With The Governor, themed: “Reconceptualizing Safety and Security In Lagos State” at Civic Centre, Victoria Island.
The governor said the meeting is another indication that the administration is pressing ahead with the Lagos State Security Trust Fund’s vision of “making Lagos the safest, most secure and most prosperous commercial nerve centre in Africa”.
He said the theme “clearly acknowledges that we are reviewing our strategies and approaches to ensure we achieve our goal.”
Sanwo-Olu said that “in addition to those physical assets, our interventions have included daily fueling of security vehicles and boats, continuous training of security personnel, and routine maintenance and repairs.”
He said the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency ((LSNSC) “has been reorganized to play a more active role in providing intelligence in line with the community policing structure, and to provide manpower support to augment the resources of the Police in areas like crowd control, traffic management, and other community engagement responsibilities.”
Sanwo-Olu added that his administration would “continue to train and retrain all enforcement agents of the Lagos State government, while also supporting the federal security agencies to improve their effectiveness.
“We have continued to foster engagements with the various security agencies in the state, demanding that they work together to dislodge criminal elements from our state.”
“These engagements have yielded results as we have developed a mechanism in which every agency works in synergy with others to improve the State’s security architecture,” the governor added.
Saying that “There is, however, much more still to be done, we need more donors, and more contributions,” the governor especially appealed to the private sector, residents and other stakeholders in Lagos State, to add your name to the donors’ list of the LSSTF. And to our existing donors, I believe there is room for more support.”
He said that the state government “will continue to ensure judicious use of the resources you make available. I am glad that transparency and accountability are already baked into the administrative and oversight structure of the Fund; without a doubt, this is one of the most well-managed Funds anywhere in this country.
At the meeting, the Chairman, LSSTF, Board of Trustees, Kehinde Durosimi-Etti, said the annual security town hall meeting is for security agencies to render an account of their operations and also provide the present administration share its vision for a safer and more secured Lagos.
Durosimi-Etti, who saluted the commitment of security agents for optimally carrying out their Duties, stated that the Fund would continue to play a pivot role in strengthening the security architecture of the state through partnership and development.
Giving an account of the Fund in the last one year, Executive Secretary, LSSTF, Abdurrazaq Balogun, said the Fund with various stakeholders have been able to provide 183 vehicles fully fitted with communication and security accessories, 200 motorbikes, 8 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 2 Water cannons, 167 Push-to-talk on Cellular communication devices among others to security agencies.
He said the Fund carried out quarterly routine service on 322 security vehicles, and 42 Marine Police boat engines, while providing other consumables as 522 tyres of various sizes, 180 batteries of various specifications, daily fueling of the RRS vehicles, the weekly and monthly fueling support for the Marine Police, the Navy and the Air Force.
On his part, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, confirmed that over the last year, cases of crime with the state have reduced with the efforts of all security agencies in the state.
According to him, no Bank Robbery was recorded, 59 stolen vehicles were recovered, 215 Murder suspects were prosecuted, amongst other crime-related activities Odumosu also called on the general public to support the fight against crime and cultism.
