Donates security equipment to Lagos State Police Command
The increasingly ominous security situation in Nigeria has resulted in an all-time high clamour for caution and safety.
With the increasing daily accounts of banditry, insurgency and neighbourhood violence, safety of lives and property has become a responsibility of collective concern.
Away from the threatening Sahel violence which is a by-product of ethnic disharmony and the outrage of the marginalized Niger-Delta oil producing people, states in Nigeria have had to deal with the rising demons of insecurity within their various territories.
Ranking at number 146 in the Global Peace Index (GPI) of 2021, it has become common knowledge that a good number of the 196 million people in the country stand a high risk of being robbed, kidnapped or killed.
Responding to the precarious security situation in Nigeria, the south-west states have gone on to form various regional security outfits, most recent of which is ‘Amotekun’.
In a similar development, south-east states have gone ahead to produce the ‘Ebube Agu’ security outfit but, these have achieved little.
This leaves room for one to wonder about the fate of large commercial cities within the federation who have to act autonomously to safe guard their territories. One of such cities of consideration is Lagos state.
As an extremely boisterous city and a nerve centre of economic activities, Lagos state which was Nigeria’s capital territory from the year of amalgamation till 1991, plays host to an estimated 14, 862, 111 people.
Guaranteeing the safety of these people, their properties and means of livelihood proves a herculean task as efforts by the state government constantly requires an upgrade.
The daily lives of Lagos residents is largely characterized by fear as people are prone to attacks within the city.
For an early bird city, students, corporate workers and business people make efforts to keep up with an early schedule but, their activities are marauded by the fear of ‘one-chance’, rape, traffic robbery and maiming.
The story stays the same or may even get worse at close of office hours.
To tone down the tension of rising insecurity, the Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, has put the state in comparison with other states.
He has said that “security in Lagos state is far better than security in other parts of Nigeria”.
As long as the anti-grazing conflicts and Boko Haram insurgency is yet to escalate to the city, the level of safety is perceived to be adequate.
The statement went on to add that “as far as the Lagos state governed by Babajide Sanwo-Olu is concerned, the security situation here is good”.
There have been records of new attacks and emerging threats in the Southern part of the country.
On February 24, 2021, a passenger boat was hijacked in River state by suspected pirates and eleven people were abducted.
On Tuesday, February 23 2021, Niger Delta militants threatened to destroy all the Federal government infrastructure in Lagos and Abuja over alleged the FG’s marginalisation of the region and failing to keep up with the deliver on the amnesty programme.
These threats of insecurity for Lagos have necessitated the procurement of more sophisticated security equipment for security outfits in the state.
In the past weekend, the state’s Rapid Response Squad (RRS) received 350 bullet proof vests/helmets and 20 saloon patrol vehicles from the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) team.
The agency’s commander, CSP Saheed Olayinka Egbeyemi, who took delivery of the items at the agency’s headquarters in Alausa, commended government’s efforts to ensure the safety of residents. In his acknowledgement he said that, “the purpose-driven governor of the state has just spoken again in an unambiguous manner, his unwavering resolve to give the police all that is needed to guarantee impregnable security of lives and property in Lagos”. He therefore enjoined members of other security outlets to complement the efforts of the state government by collectively setting to work.
He further reiterated the continued painstaking efforts of the State Commissioner of Police in combating the malaise of insecurity in the city and expressed hope for proper use of the tools received. In his words, “the commissioner of police, Lagos state command, CP Hakeem Odumosu has habitually directed and challenged formations across the state including the RRS to sustain onslaught against all shades of criminals and these newly received apparatuses will be put to full professional use to carry out the Commissioner’s directive, towards negating criminal activities in the state.
