°°° Commits N37.8 Bn to public order, safety in 2021
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in collaboration in conjunction with the Lagos State Security Trust Fund has filed out N60m compensation to the families of six police officers killed during the EndSARS protest in Lagos State.
N10 million was paid to each of the falling heroes, which amounted to N60 million.
The compensation was in fulfillment of the state government’s pledge made during an earlier meeting with police officers at the state police command.
As part of the promise to the families, Sanwo-Olu also announced scholarship awards to the children of the deceased officers up to the university level.
Sanwo-Olu presented the cheques to the wives and children of the slain officers at the 14th Town Hall meeting on security, held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island on Thursday.
The yearly event with the theme: “Lagos Security: Resilience in the Face of Adversity”, was organised by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF.
The late police officers are Yaro Edward, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Inspector Ayodeji Erinfolami, Inspector Aderibigbe Adegbenro, Inspector Samsom Ehibor, Sergeant Bejide Abiodun, and Inspector Igoche Cornelius.
Sanwo-Olu described the slain officers as “heroes”, saying the deceased sacrificed their lives to secure lives and properties in the State.
He said the compensation was the state government’s modest reward for their gallantry, emphasizing that the kind act would help the families to heal from the loss incurred.
Moreso, the governor, said:
“Some of our gallant police officers paid the supreme price for our security and safety during the recent EndSARS protests. These are the officers deployed to protect our families from hoodlums but they were lynched in the violence. Today, I am happy to announce and present N10 million compensation through LSSTF to each family of the officers. All their children have also been placed on scholarship up to university level, courtesy of the State Government.”
Sanwo-Olu, at the event equally received the report of security activities across the state in the last 12 months from Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, who expressed satisfaction at the way, police personnel have tackled crime and the reduction of crime rate especially, kidnapping and armed robbery, in the last one year.
The state has set up plans to reinvigorate the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, Sanwo-Olu pledges that security would remain a top priority for his government.
He explained that Lagos was already preparing to bridge the technological and logistical gaps in its security architecture before the outburst of violence that disrupted the EndSARS protest.
The crisis of these past weeks, Sanwo-Olu explained, has necessitated the need to tighten up security across the state, he gave the assurance that his administration would invest more in intelligence gathering-led policing and improve operational capacity and welfare of personnel serving in Lagos.
He said: “We must sustain the steady progress Lagos has recorded insecurity of lives and properties. The issue of security is a shared mission and should not be left for the government alone to handle. The more we are able to engage the citizens, the better we will become at nipping crimes in the bud.
This administration will continue to be proactive by engaging all stakeholders as part of the ongoing exercise to address all security concerns.
“We have taken a proactive measures of making the necessary budgetary provision for security. We will be committing N37.8 billion to Public Order and Safety in 2021 because we fully understand the correlation between development and security.
The governor added that his administration would stop at nothing to flush out criminal elements whose sole aim was to foment upheavals and perpetrate crimes in the state:
“We hope for a better Lagos as we work together. The state will offer no hiding place for bandits and criminals.”
The Executive Secretary LSSTF, Dr. AbdulRazaq Balogun observed that there was a serious decline in donations to the agency aa compared to the previous years.
According to Mr. Balogun, the reason for the decline was the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the setting up of similar trust funds agencies by other States.
He added that LSSTF had provided 90 patrol vehicles and six units of outboard engine boats for security operations across the State, among other walking tools that included walkie talkies, raincoats, boots, batteries, among others, apart from the logistics support provided for the police.
On his part, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, said during his report that police personnel was overstretched as they had a shortage of resources, material, and personnel and they were daunting to effectively combat crimes in the state, due to the constant logistics supplies from the State government.
Odumosu gave the breakdown of crimes recorded in Lagos from October 2019 to last November, saying that the Command foiled 273 cases of armed robbery, arrested 1,181 robbers during operations. He said 27 suspected robbers were killed within the period under review during encounter.
The CP said the state recorded a sharp decline in kidnapping in the past year, an effort he linked to improved intelligence-driven operations. He, however, said cases of cultism and drug abuse were on the rise and vowed to deal with the issue.
