Falana advocates bearing of arms for LNSC

A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, has advocated the bearing of arms by the officers of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) in a bid to mitigate crime rates in the state through the community policing scheme.

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Falana made this known to newsmen at a-day public hearing of a Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency for the Regulation and Control of Neighbourhood Safety Corps Activities and for Connected Purposes.

The public hearing was organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy headed by Mrs Adefunmilayo Tejuosho (Mushin Constituency I)

Falana, who commended the House for being thoughtful in creating the corps, said security of lives and property, remained the primary responsibility of government.

He called for the expansion of the powers of the corps to carry out functions of police in the state as well as to protect corps members.

“The country is under-policed and the state government could by law create and empower security agencies at the state level to carry out functions that may be similar to that of the police.

“My position is based on the constitution that if I can go to the Inspector General of Police and apply for a licence to bear arms and I am granted.”

“Why can’t the Lagos State Government not be given licences for 10,000 young men and women to protect the rest of us? It is allowed by our law.

“If you set up an agency like this and you want them to arrest criminal suspects in the society, you must arm them, otherwise their own lives will be endangered.

“Therefore, like prison officers, Civil Defence, Customs, and other bear arms, nothing should stop the Lagos State House of Assembly from also empowering the corps members (LNSC) to bear arms.

“Unless we really challenge security of lives and property of every citizen, we are not going to get anything rights. What the law does not want, what the law prohibited is a situation whereby I misuse the powers given to me by law” Falana said.

The Legal Luminary urged the House to be creative in protecting all citizens, stressing that the Federal Government could not protect all.

Falana commended the Lagos State government for the state security trust funds and the creation of the LNSC, urging the House to be very creative and vigilant.

“We are supposed to have one police man to 400 citizens, but right now, only about 300, 000 policemen and women are guiding almost 200 million people.

“Our country is under-policed, they are ill-equipped and they are ill-trained.

“If there is abuse, the law is there to deal with any officer who becomes over-bearing and over- zealous to violate the right of citizens” He said.

The Senior Advocate said that members of the board should be constituted by accredited representatives of the Civil Society Organisations and the government for the agency not  to be an extension of the Governor’s office.

On the proposed amendment requiring the corps to arrest urchins and area boys, Falana urged the House to task local governments to create employment for young men and women to ensure they were productively engaged.

The human rights lawyer added that the agency should be empowered toe nter incomplete buildings to arrest people engaging in illicit activities that constitute danger to the community.

He said that the corps should also be involved in removing out-of-school children roaming streets, adding that the agency should liaise with prison services so that any prisoner released would be monitored.

Speaking also, The Chairman of the LNSC, Mr Israel Ajayi, who commended the House for proposed amendments, said that the agency’s advocacy programmes for the sensitisation of communities would commence by January.

Ajayi, who noted that LNSC would bridge the gap between communities and conventional police, called for attractive packages for board members rather than regarding their duties as part-time.

In her welcome address, Mrs Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, the Chairman of the Committee said that the amendment was aimed at strengthening the relationship between the state government, the local government and the LSNC.

“We want our state to function better than other states, we want the law stronger, close all lacuna in this law.

“When we talk about policing, it must be community-based by the people who understand the terrain of where they are policing,” she said.

The Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, who was ably represented by the Majority Leader of the House, Mr Sanai Agunbiade said that the proposed amendments was to strengthen the state security by empowering LNSC law.

Doing the overview, Agunbiade said the House was proposing 31 amendments to the 32 section extant law, saying that the proposed amendments conferred on the corps power to enter, search, inspect and arrest.

He added that the amendment also affected the function of the corps to embark on aggressive awareness and sensitisation campaign on the need for the people to be security conscious.

Sanai  said that the amendment also required that various local government

areas contribute monthly subvention to the LNSC.