Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has bemoaned the security architecture of the megapolis of Lagos, saying it is clearly inadequate for the 20 million people living in the state.
He spoke Thursday night at a dinner to raise funds to improve the security in the state.
Apart from direct policing by the centrally controlled Nigerian Police Force, Lagos security is minded by a special force called Rapid Response Squad, with manpower taken from the NPF, and specially kitted to keep the city safe from bandits and kidnappers. But in Ambode’s assessment, the city is seriously under-policed and more needs to be done in terms of injecting technology in the whole security arrangement.
“Right now we have just about 33,000 people policing us and we’re about 20 million. So, if you combine other forces, the Fire Service, LASTMA and Ambulance service, it might bring the number to about 40,000 of them as against 20 million people.
“I can admit we lack the right technology. We don’t have a holistic approach to coordinate everything that we are doing and then we don’t have the security management that Lagos actually needs, so we are under policed and we are not getting the right technology to be able to say that Lagos is secured. We must now integrate men, equipment and technology to keep Lagos safer.
“So technically, Lagos state government, the Police and other security agencies have analogue technology right now, there is no interface amongst all of us. So we need to migrate to digital for improved information dissemination,” he said.
The Governor lauded the private sector contribution to the LSSTF in the last seven years, which he put at a total of N4 billion, while the state government has contributed about N8 billion to the fund.