Moshood Oshun with Bola Lawal-Olumegbon, the Executive Secretary of Yaba LCDA

By Eromosele Ebhomele

The lawmaker representing Lagos Mainland Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Moshood Oshun, has said only the introduction of state police would help rid the country of insecurity.

Oshun, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, stated this while addressing his constituents at a town hall meeting where he also told the people that out of the 28 motions and resolutions passed by House of Assembly, he had sponsored or co-sponsored seven.

“I can proudly say that I was the one who moved the motion that resulted in the summoning of the management of the state Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, as a result of the traffic situation that surfaced in our state recently,” Oshun announced to the guests.

Oshun, who also reacted to the call for the beefing up of security systems in the Mainland Constituency 2 to curb robbery attacks on the residents, said he was aware that the Nigeria Police Force was challenged in various ways.

Guests at the event

The lawmaker noted that the reason men of the Nigeria Police find it difficult combating crime in some instances is that officers must pass through the chain of command for instructions and order.

“For example, the policeman reaches to another superior who would reach out to the Divisional Police Officer, who would reach out to another superior. By the time the instruction comes to tackle the crisis, the deed must have been done,” he said.

While commending the Lagos State Police Command for its efforts, however, Oshun told the crowd that the police in the state are encouraged to work because the state government takes care of the law enforcement agency though the state Security Trust Fund.

Oshun carrying a two-week old baby of a handicapped mother at the event.

He recalled how he lobbied to get vehicles for a police division in the constituency so that the police in the area would work effectively.

He also listed some of his achievements since becoming a lawmaker to include providing transformers, sinking boreholes, personally renovating the St. Francis College in the area and mediating in areas of crises.

Oshun appealed with the residents of the constituency, especially the youths in the area, to allow the state government develop the area because there had been cases of youths thwarting efforts to bring projects to the area.

Oshun recalled how he worked for a vocational training centre to be established in the constituency but because there was the challenge of land, it was moved to the Mushin area of the state.

He also said he lobbied the government to bring street-lighting project to the area, but that the officials were almost frustrated by youths.

Oshun lamented that youths no longer want to work. He recalled how he got slots at one of the state government agencies, but that some youths from the constituency told him they did not want to work in an organisation where they would wear uniforms.

In a short speech, Bola Lawal-Olumegbon, the Executive Secretary of Yaba Local Council Development Area, noted that the town hall meeting was a good idea that would enable the people air their challenges and support the lawmakers to carry the challenges from there.

Some of the community leaders at the event complained that the boreholes constructed for them by previous administrations have refused to pump water. They also pleaded with the lawmaker to pressurise the state government to fix these boreholes and some schools and roads in the area that are already becoming eyesores.

While pleading that some police posts in the area be converted to police divisions, some of them called for the involvement of community leaders in the implementation of future projects so as to make it easy to ward off those who would want to frustrate the project execution.

They also called for adequate funding of the security agencies in the state saying the police, for example, know the hide-outs of criminals, but are not adequately encouraged to confront the criminals and sack their hide-outs.

Reacting, Oshun, who noted that the boreholes he sank were still working, assured that the government would fix the roads and the schools, but added that this was in line with the dictates of the budget which is just an estimate of what the government is expected to spend at a period.

Oshun also gave out an undisclosed amount of money to a handicapped mother of a two-week old baby who attended the town hall meeting.