Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security, Publicity and Strategy, Hon. Setonji David, has called for the deployment of more policemen in Lagos State to handle insecurity.
David, who spoke with journalists in his office on Tuesday said that the less than 50,000 policemen in the state could not properly protect a population of over 20 million people.
The lawmaker, however, said that Lagos is more secured than many other states in the country.
Relating insecurity to the menace of motorcycle (okada) riders in the state, David said that the state is faced with the problem of enforcement over the laws restricting or banning okada in some areas of the state.
“The challenge we have is enforcement, we have so many laws in Lagos State.
“We don’t have enough policemen in Lagos State. Okadas were not banned in the state, but they were restricted in many areas. They were banned in places like Ikeja and others.
“We have a population of over 20 million people in Lagos State with less than 50,000 policemen, how can they man the state effectively?
“The governor is the chief security officer of the state, but he can’t employ police because they are not under his control. Police is in the purview of the Federal Government.
“It’s a problem and we have to address it. Lagos is a state in Nigeria so all Nigerians have the right to come here,” he said.
The lawmakers, representing Badagry Constituency 2, stated that the state government wanted to ensure that those who come to the state have something to do there.
He said further that the state government did not have instruments of law to carry out certain functions, but that security issues could not be discussed on the pages of the newspapers.
He added that relative peace being enjoyed in Lagos State is due to the efforts of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) but noted that men of the corps were constrained by the fact that the duties they ought to perform are being performed by the police.
“The relative peace we enjoy in Lagos is because of the collaboration between LNSC and the police.
“We want the Federal Government to allow state police. Lagos is a peculiar state, we have Amotekun here, but it is subsumed under LNSC because Lagos State is a metropolitan state.
“We don’t have more of bush in Lagos except those in Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry.
“So, Amotekun might not be pronounced here, but we are part of it. But we need more police in the state. We want the governor to be empowered for security purposes,” he said.\
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