Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared his readiness to deploy 10,000 men as State Police officers once the constitutional provisions for the establishment of state police is approved by the Federal Government and National Assembly.
Sanwo-Olu made the declaration on Thursday during a media chat, where expressed eagerness for the approval by the apex government.
He explained that men of the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC), a uniformed security agency established by a law of the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2016, would be pulled out to join state police.
“I am an advocate for it. I believe we needed it like yesterday. And the interesting thing is that we have the Neighborhood Watch and it is still functional, about 6,000 of them. The good news is that I have given approval for us to recruit additional 4,000 of them. And this is job for our youths, our able-bodied men.
“What that means for me is that if they give approval for state police, I have 10,000 men that I can further train and get them ready and these are people that know the entire community, the nooks and crannies,” the governor said.
The governor added that the men of the neighbourhood watch have been active in providing security intelligence in the state and if empowered to bear assault rifles, will surpass expectations.
“They provide intelligence at our state security meetings and you can imagine what happens if that is turned around to a proper security agency,” he added.
Recall that last week, in an emergency meeting with 36 state governors and other relevant stakeholders, president Bola Tinubu had considered the creation of state police as solution to the menacing security challenges like kidnapping and banditry ubiquitous in the country.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to introduce the considered state police scaled second reading in the House of Representatives this week.
