Kazeem Ugbodaga
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday received a donation of N10 million from the Lebanese Nigerian Initiative (LNI) for the State Security Trust Fund, STF, to fight crime in the state, charging the body to continue to do more for the State.
The Governor, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja when he received the Chairman and the directors of the LNI through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello said: “I want to thank you for this initiative which is not the first by you. I know that there is a lot that you can still do for the state.
“Particularly in the field of security, there is still a lot you can still do for us. Without the efforts of people like you and others in the past, Lagos would not have been where it is today in terms of maintenance of peace and security.”
The governor added that with the business pedigree of each members of the LNI, the present administration was deeply appreciative of their contribution which is a very good initiative.
He added that the issue of security could not be left alone for government to handle and that this was one of the reasons that informed the clarion call to members of the organized private sector to join the state government in ensuring that the people could sleep with their two eyes closed.
Chairman of the Lebanese Nigerian Initiative (LNI), Mr Faysal El-Khalil said members of the Lebanese community had been in Nigeria for over a century doing legitimate business.
He said the members, through the latest gesture demonstrated a reassurance of their commitment to the determination of the present administration to keep criminals at bay permanently.
El-Khalil said it was about how the members of the Lebanese community could give back to Lagos community which they had been eking out a living.
He said in addition to the security initiative, the LNI had also embarked on a project towards investing in education by creating an endowment fund in the American University in Beirut where specified number of Nigerians would be beneficiaries.