By Adeyinka Aderibigbe
The Lagos State Governor-elect Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has restated the commitment of the new administration to prioritizing security of lives and property of all residents.
Sanwo-Olu spoke in his Ikoyi office yesterday, while paying host to the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), led by its Chairman, Mr. Oye Hassan-Odukale, who paid him and his Deputy Dr. Obafemi Hamzat a courtesy visit.
The Governor-Elect in his response, said he was very familiar with the objectives of the Fund since he had coordinated its activities at inception, even before its establishment by Law.
He said he is aware of the security challenges in the state as he had continued to take a keen interest in the security of the state and his meetings with several groups of people have also revealed a lot to him.
Sanwoolu said the Fund was deliberately modelled as a Public Private Partnership to leverage on participation and contributions from the private sector to assist in the funding of security in the State.
“It is on record that other states have continued to come to understudy the Fund to replicate it, while at the Federal level, a bill to establish a Police Trust Fund is being considered at the National Assembly for the same purpose,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He stressed that the needs of all Security agencies operating in the state will be reevaluated so as to further enhance their activities noting that technology based solutions will be adopted to fortify the state security architecture.
Hassan-odukale said the LSSTF BoT had visited the Governor-Elect, and his Deputy, to congratulate them on their victory at the March 2019 gubernatorial elections and to intimate them on the activities of the Fund.
He expressed the hope that the incoming administration would continue to work closely with the Fund in advocating the support of the private sector and well-meaning individuals to continue to donate to the Fund.
Hassan-Odukale said the LSSTF was a child of necessity established to address the underfunding of the security agencies and noted that those same factors still exist.
He said with the intervention of the Fund the security agencies have contained the menace of kidnapping, terrorism, insurgency, drug abuse, trafficking, and cult-related crimes.
LSSTF’s Executive Secretary/CEO Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun noted that some of the challenges experienced in the administration of the Fund includes; over reliance on the Fund by security agencies operating in the state, donor fatigue, and increase in cost of security equipment. He emphasized the need for more corporate organisations to continue to contribute their quota to the improvement of security in the state.