Segun Kasali, Subair Mohammed and Lekan Olabulo engage the General Manager, Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency (LNSA), Prince Ifalade Oyekan and Senior Research Analyst at the intelligence-gathering firm, EONS Security Company, Ngozi Ogbonna, on the updates in the security situation in Lagos State. Excerpts from the separate interactions are presented below:
Prince Oyekan, Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency (LNSA)
What is your assessment of the security situation in Lagos State?
All over the world, security is shaky and tensed. The situation is not limited to Nigeria alone. Lagos State is safer compared to other states in Nigeria. This is why we have many people migrating to Lagos for safety. And as much as they are coming, the population is expected to increase and as a responsible government, we have to be on our toes to provide a safe environment because we don’t know their motives.
Every country has a peculiar security issue and Lagos State is not an exception. But the trend we are seeing today was not known to us in the past. Therefore it requires an urgent attention and that is one of the great things Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is doing under the THEME agenda.
Let me say without any reservation that up to 12.00 a.m. on Monday, I was on the telephone with Governor Sanwo-Olu on the state of security in the state. I was briefing the governor about the activities of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency on my watch. Apart from the daily security reports we make available to the governor, he needs to find out one or two things concerning security in Lagos.
Can you tell us the thrust of your conversation with the governor?
It is basically on how best to provide adequate security and maintain law and order in the state. Some of the security issues we discussed cannot be divulged to the public as they are confidential but I will try as much as I can to discuss the little I can.
Our discussion focused on monitoring and intelligence gathering by officials of the agency and on how we can effectively discharge our responsibilities. The governor addressed our immediate challenge by providing fuel for our patrol vehicles. Let me not go further on my discussion with the governor.
With all these, how safe do you think Lagos is?
It is only God that is absolutely safe but when you compare Lagos to other states of the federation, it is the safest. Sometimes when I go on operation, I educate the passengers and motorists. Although they have every right to use their phone in their cars, they need to consider the situation in the country.
They don’t need to roll down the windows while in traffic. There are traffic robbers loitering around. They appear from nowhere and snatch your phone. The public needs to help us to be able to help them. Whenever they are in the traffic, they need to roll up the car window.
A countless number of people come to Lagos from across the country for economic reasons. Does this in anyway affect the security architecture of the state, especially in the light of the recent kidnappings in the state?
People migrate to Lagos State on a daily basis not only for economic reasons alone. They come into the state for safety as well. Residents in troubled zones in the country and from some states where banditry is pronounced and residents displaced would expectedly want to move to a safer and secure place where peace of mind is guaranteed. This is why we see many of them coming to Lagos State.
But once they have settled down, the next thing is for them to look for means to sustain themselves. Some of them engage in legitimate trades while others choose to lead a life of crime. And it is difficult to identify those that harbour evil and criminal intentions. But I can give the assurance that criminals have no place in Lagos State.
When I talk about illegal immigrants, I am not referring to Nigerians moving from the north to the south or the south to the east or west, no, I am referring to those that come into the country through the land borders without the necessary papers. Recently, I visited Dubai and lodged in a hotel. At the hotel, the first thing they ask to see was my passport. They wanted to know my country of origin and my identity. But here, people from Sudan, Niger and Chad make their way into the country to trade and rent an apartment to reside permanently. They mix freely with the citizens such that you find it difficult to identify who is who. These are what we are working towards achieving in Lagos State.
How does the Lagos State government or the Neighbourhood Safety Agency intend to achieve this? Does the state have database of migrants in the state?
That is where we are going. We only need to get every landlord in the state to give us the number of occupants in their building. It is when they give us information that we can build a database and have something to work on. Ours is neighbourhood safety and we have to ensure Lagos communities are adequately secured.
The Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency was established in 2016 to assist the police and other security agencies to maintain law and order. How has the agency fared in discharging this responsibility?
You cannot be a judge in your own case but I will say we have performed greatly. But there is the need to do more both in operation and intelligence gathering. Regarding intelligence gathering, LNSA is number one because we are always on the ground in the grassroots. Our officers are drawn from the neighbourhoods they live in. They are familiar with the faces they see around. So, it is easy to identify any new faces.
When LNSA was established, the idea was to have 100 officers in each local government area, bringing the total number of LNSA officers to 5,700. But presently, we don’t have that strength. Why? About 100 of our officers have been taken away to support the police.
As I speak, our staff strength is about 4,000. About 1,000 officers have been given to constabulary to assist the police. And if we minus this from the number taken to the police, from the number of officers that have resigned, including those that are dead, what do we have left? The number of officers we have left is depleting but the governor has approved the immediate employment of new officers.
In some local government areas, we have about 46 officers instead of 100 officers. What we do in such a situation is to move officers from neighbouring local government areas to assist in operation. Before now, we had some of our uniformed officers on traffic patrol. Our main call-up is not traffic patrol; that is the job of LASTMA. Ours is to have an interface with the inner communities on insecurity.
If we deploy LNSA officers for traffic management duties, we will be distracted from our main responsibility. We could form a synergy to manage the traffic because when there is traffic congestion, traffic robbers would want to operate. So, we need to swing into action and assist in easing traffic.
There is the undercover corps which is the heartbeat of the LNSA but people don’t get to see them. I have compiled list of abandoned buildings across the state which serve as hideouts for criminals. We provided the data to other security agencies to work on.
I further proposed the creation of some units, including marine unit, forest rangers and research and development. These units would help our operations.
Last week, about six people were abducted in different locations in Lagos State, including retired AVM Smith with the lagoon serving as a getaway for the abductors. What is the LNSA doing to secure lagoon fronts across communities in the state?
As I have said, we synergise with other security agencies. And we will continue to collaborate with them. The police already have an established marine police to secure lagoon fronts. The LNSA is to gather information that would assist the police in its operations. I wouldn’t want to mention names now. When a case of abduction was reported before the last one, LNSA officers were at the Lagos-Ogun border until around 4.00 a.m., keeping surveillance and monitoring activities while DSS operatives tracked the phones of the suspects.
It was when the suspects got to their final destination that the DSS was able to track them down and the police swung into action. It is a team work. The police played a very big role to secure the release of AVM Smith. At the LNSA, we are small but mighty and it is our hope that the proposed units and departments will assist in combating kidnapping and other crimes in the state because it is only when Lagos State is secure that we can think of engaging in other activities.
In what ways do LNSA, the police and other security agencies collaborate?
When an arrest is made, we hand over the suspect to the police. We gather information and intelligence and make them available to the police. In whatever we do as far as securing Lagos State is concerned, we give our reports to our ‘big brothers’ like the police, DSS and RRS. We give reports of our findings to them and I am assuring you, they are working on them.
Apart from this, the police invite our men to identify some black spots in Lagos for them. We are glad to be useful to them in this regard but we stay out of the execution.
The task of securing Lagos State is division of labour. Everybody has a role to play. This is why we collaborate and exchange notes with other security agencies. Some of our men are sent to the DSS for training on intelligence. We could have things to do together with the Civil Defence whose main responsibility is to secure the petroleum pipelines.
There are reported cases of assault and attacks on officers of the LNSA. How do you handle this, considering the fact that you don’t bear firearms?
That we don’t carry firearms doesn’t mean we cannot work effectively but there is a limit to the extent we can go. There must be an issue that requires you to have a firearm. If you are confronted by a group, there are ways of handling such a situation. You can bring a situation under control through courtesy, soothing and calming words. Provision of security is not necessarily about firearms; dialogue plays a prominent role, too.
The way you talk to people matters. You can’t use violence to control violence. These are the areas LNSA officers have improved so much on. If you talk to the people in a disrespectful manner, be prepared to get a rash response in return. Similarly, you can accord a suspect 100 per cent respect and still get the job done. It is not all about violence at all times.
What are the challenges confronting the agency?
Many of our challenges have been taken care of by Governor Sanwo-Olu. Our activities are now technology-driven. Recently, Mr Governor launched body-worn camera and security gadgets for the use of the LNSA. This started while I was Director General of the Law Enforcement Training Institute, LETI. We have different kinds of body-worn camera. We visited six countries to see how we can inject the technology into Lagos State security architecture.
So, before the end of September, you will get to see our officers wearing body-worn cameras.
As I speak, some of my officers are at LETI for training. It is a yearly training but when they return, we have our in-house training for all levels of officers.
For instance, we have trained them on the use of body-worn camera. In the area of communication, we have deployed telephone boxes to all the divisional heads in the 57 LCDAs. When we came on board, we discovered that if there is a need to call any officers, you will have to call his personal telephone line.
So, we sat down with some telecommunication companies on our needs and we came up with a solution. Lagos is deploying technology and modern communication gadgets to combat crime in the state. This is one of the ways Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is leading in the fight against insecurity in the state.
How many arrests have been made so far by the LNSA?
I wouldn’t want to give you figures but many of the arrests made before I came on board were handed over to the police. But when I came on board, I instructed them to record every arrest made, including date and time the suspects are handed over to the police. If I want to get a five-month data, I will just tell everybody to make a submission but before now, there was nothing like data collection at the agency. These are the challenges which we are trying to improve on.
Ngozi Ogbonna, EONS Security Company
Eons Security Company recently raised the alarm about increasing crime rate in Lagos. What are the indices to justify this?
It is a sad fact that Lagos is gradually losing its hard-earned status of one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria. No thanks to the recent incessant cases of low and high-profile kidnappings in recent times, coupled with the habitual cases of traffic robberies, break-ins, armed robberies, cult and gang-related violence, presence of organised scam syndicates and other anti-social behaviours, associated with a heavily-populated city. There is no gainsaying the fact that there is a demographic time bomb waiting to explode if not nipped in the bud, and in time.
What are the security threats in Lagos?
Investigations have revealed that the major security threats in the city are basically carjacking, armed robbery, civil unrests by urchins, gangs and cult groups and other social vices common with the metropolitan nature of the state as well as population explosion and challenges of living within a community where dwindling economic resources daily push several individuals and families below the poverty line. In addition, the statistical indication that kidnapping incidents were erstwhile alien in the state is corroborated by Eons Intelligence Analysis of Incidents by Region. The monthly Incidents by Region publication of Eons Intelligence is an analysis covering for each reviewing month and identified states in each geo-political zone that are seen from the statistical outlook that seems to have improved, regressed or relatively calm during the reviewing period. The publication doesn’t represent complete success or failure of the political leaders responsible for managing security in the affected states but it assists to spur for more actions where a regression is observed and sustainability of efforts where progression is indicated. However, a state once renowned for its magnificent aesthetics and relative calmness has recorded three kidnapping incidents in a day, from Ikorodu through FESTAC to Ajah.
What are the incidents?
‘Gunmen invade farmhouse, kidnap businessman, shoot passerby in Agohun, Ikorodu’; ‘Gunmen storm Lagos church during service, kidnap young man at Amuwo Odofin, FESTAC’; Gunmen abduct retired Air Vice Marshal in Ajah, Eti-osa, Lagos’; Two killed as police, kidnappers clash in Lagos forest in Imota-Emuren, Ikorodu’.
The above kidnapping incidents and other reported crime facts across the media show a rise in crime rate across the length and breadth of Lagos State in recent times. These include traffic robberies, burglaries, organised fraud and more recently, high-profile kidnapping.
Worthy of mention is that in the month of September, Lagos State recorded multiple cases of security breaches. These include the killing of a police officer in the line of duty by suspected criminal bike operators at Ajao Estate on the 24th of September. There were also escalated free-for-alls and insubordination by these same groups against security operatives in various locations like LASU/Iyana-Iba, Apapa Tin-Can Port and some other locations. Intelligence reports over 26 deaths for the month of September.
There may not be vivid and verifiable indication that bandits have infiltrated Lagos but the reported increase in crime rate, traffic robbery, among others, are characteristics of a growing social base of recalcitrant and criminally-minded individuals masquerading as artisans, street urchins and okada riders. Intelligence sources also state that these hoodlums brandish dangerous weapons like cutlasses, machetes and guns whenever confronted by law enforcement agents.
In addition, the massive influx of these unskilled and improperly-socialised groups of able-bodied young men is the historical foundation upon which terrorist groups are built.
The unabated spike in this unchecked dangerous trend may be ascribed to a lack of synergy between the state government and the Federal Government. For instance, in terms of population control and security, the state government bears the brunt of the menace of insecurity, even though the governor has no autonomous power over security matters. The commissioner of police gets order from the Inspector General of Police who in turn is answerable to Abuja. So, when there is conflict of interests, the state governor and the government seem to be rendered powerless.
Investigations have revealed that this is the reason some of these bike riders refuse to vacate the roads marked as restricted areas like the Apapa Oshodi Expressway, Apongbon Bridge, Lekki-Ajah Expressway and the rest.
What are the probable solutions to these?
To reverse these trends, the state government should double its efforts in terms of collaborating more with the security agencies in the areas of providing logistical and tactical support. There should be an increase in the operation of the existing neighbourhood security outfit and most importantly, the state government must be at the forefront of the push for the delisting of some security responsibilities from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List in the Nigerian constitution. The state must be allowed to actively participate in security matters that affect it directly.
This is the way to go for the sake of cohesion and peaceful coexistence. For instance, has anyone ever imagined what would have been the fate of traffic management in Lagos if not for the introduction of LASTMA? Can we all imagine what traffic management in Lagos State would have been in the hands of the Nigerian Police? It is quite unimaginable because it is the failure of the police that led to the creation of LASTMA in the first place.
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