Follow Us on Google
By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
The executive secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Mr. Abdulrazaq Balogun, has vowed to expand and explore new ways to tackle security challenges in the state.
No mater the amount of the resources available, he assured Lagos of an improved security system to curb all forms of threats to lives and property.
Balogun disclosed this at the 16th LSSTF annual town hall meeting held in Lagos, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, captains of industry, key movers of the private sector and top brass of the state security.
The town hall meeting has become an instrument used in designing the security network and infrastructure of the state, in order to make government more proactive in the protection of lives and property.
The theme for this year’s event was, ‘LSSTF stewardship: A review of our activities in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S. agenda of the Lagos State Government’.
Balogun said the fund had continued to make the state the safest haven for investors who have continued to make the state their choice. He said the core values of the fund remains prudence, accountability, resourcefulness and trust, and has continued to make the state the safest most secure and most prosperous commercial location in Africa.
He said in the last three and half years, LSSTF has provided 240 vehicles fully fitted with communication equipments, 230 motorbikes, 100 digital walkie-talkies with extra batteries, 167 push to talk cellular communication devices and 1,000 level IV bulletproof vests, 1,000 ballistic helmets and 100 ballistic fragmental vests, among others to keep the state safe.
He said the Lagos State government committed N9.16 billion to social protection order to critically address contributors to crime such as substance abuse, youth unemployment and poor education to stamp out crime in the state.
He, however, lamented that the trust fund has a serious fund deficit that must be frontally addressed if the state must continue to provide safety for the people.
He urged the government to consider bringing every Lagosians on board as the trust fund could no longer rely on voluntary donations which has been affected by the harsh economic condition under which businesses have been operating.
He lamented that of the N74.773 billion budget approved by the senate for the Nigerian Police Trust Fund in 2021, only five vehicles and a few other equipment were distributed to the Lagos State Police Command despite the fact that a good number of the companies that made the bulk of the contributions to the
fund are located or have their head offices in Lagos.
“There is a limit to which we can manage no matter how much we try. That is why we urge everyone to ensure that they make donations to the Fund, if you truly believe in what we do. Please show that support for this noble assignment by making their donations and pledge to keep the state safe,” Balogun said.
However, he reflected in strong upward trends in business investment in Lagos state,
the structure and achievement of the LSSTF and looks at the context in which it has been created and sustained.
On his part, Sanwo-Olu appealed to private partners and individuals not to relent in their support for the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), saying that they should continue to make efforts to ensure risks were properly addressed in the state.
Sanwo-Olu stated that LSSTF received the lowest amount of funds in 2022, amounting to just N153million, since its establishment in the last 16 years, a development which is a far cry compared to the amount it received in 2020 and 2021, which came to N2.5bn and N1.042bn respectively.
The Fund, which was established in 2007, through the Lagos State House of Assembly, was meant to fill the resource deficit of the police and other security agencies in the state. Sanwo-Olu promised to donate additional 25 patrol vehicles to the police in order to enhance security across the state, even as he noted that LSSTF was at the forefront of the state’s security efforts.
Sanwo-Olu added that the Lagos State government has through the Fund continued to provide interventions for operational capacity, training and logistics for the police and all security agencies operating in the state, declaring that the state’s efforts had yielded results as Lagos remained largely safe.
“In the last three and half years, we have continued to maintain the Lagos record of zero bank robbery in our state. Let us be clear that we are not yet where we would like to be, but we are certain we can and we will get there,” he said.
The governor, who observed that the Federal Government has commenced the process of the reform with the take-off of the community policing, howeve, said more need to be done to achieve the far-reaching structural reforms in security management in the country.
He said: “While we continue to push for those reforms however, we must make the best of the current circumstances and embrace the limitations that come with it.”
While promising to continue to work for the protection of the lives and prosperity of all, Sanwo-Olu appealed for the continued support of captains of industry to continue to donate in cash and in kind, equipment, expertise and intelligence, all of which are needed to ensure the state is kept safe.
While acknowledging that security is a matter to which everybody in the state must be committed, the governor said: “When you see something, say something. Do not keep quiet. Security is a collective responsibility.
“We will continue to send a strong and loud message to all purveyors of crime and criminality in Lagos State. We will stay ahead of your intentions and actions and we will continue to fight you with everything we have. That is the Lagos spirit, that is who we will continue to be. There will be no room for actions that undermine our wellbeing and our capacity to achieve our dreams a d aspirations.”
In his own report of the activities of the police command under his watch in the year under review, the commissioner of police in the state, Abiodun Alabi, said the command has continued to receive enormous support, especially the logistics received from the government and the LSSTF.
Alabi said a total of 8,105 motorcycles were contravened in the year under review our of which 4,815 were impounded in June to September 2022, while 144 recalcitrant motorcycles operators and 40 passengers were arrested for contravening the traffic law and ban on Okada operation declared by the state governor on June 15, 2022.
The chairman of the LSSTF Board Mr Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti said it is in the tradition of the Fund to lay it’s activities open for all its sponsors and stakeholders on how it has continued to intervene in order to fix the resource deficit of the security agencies working in the state.
He said security is essential to all human activities, the main reason that security will continue to play a leading role and LSSTF would be a major interface of that.
He said since it was sworn in 2020, this is the first time that the board would be playing host to a huge number of people at the Town Hall. He said without security there is no economy and there can be no growth and prosperity.
“We continue to hold our donors in high esteem for their belief in the Lagos State effort to support security operations. The state and we thank them for their donations to date.
Among those in attendance were members of the state executive council, traditional rulers and security chiefs.
