By Our Correspondent
Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday reiterated the need for the creation of state police in Nigeria.
Sanwo-Olu made the call when the Commissioners of Police Service Commission (PSC), led by the acting Chairman, Retired Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House, Marina.
He said this would help governors to protect the life and property of their residents, which they had sworn to, as well as ensure peace and tranquillity within their states.
The governor said that his administration would continue to provide adequate first-class security for the entire local and foreign residents within the state.
“We reiterate and seek your cooperation on our collective agitation for a State Police.
“This is my view and the view of a lot of my colleagues and citizens.
“Giving the age of our democracy, policing at the community level is not only desirable, but it is also important and it is what should be done and what we require.
”We will continue to advocate for State Police. We have said that State Police is not in any form to retrench or reduce whatever the Nigerian Police is doing now.
“There will still be clear responsibility that would be federal in nature; they would still have direct responsibility and oversight to continue to address.
“We also know that if you look at the ratio of policemen to our huge population, we are still far from what it should be,” the governor said.
According to him, establishing the state police is another level of employment generation; providing what we are sworn to do, which is the protection of life and property; ensuring there is peace and tranquillity within our state.
The governor said the move was constitutional and has been pushed at various stakeholders’ levels.
“The population is growing on a daily basis and we need to be proactive to be able to respond and be able to ensure that we don’t have space for criminal-minded people or people that have other intentions within our own territory,” he added.
Sanwo-Olu, however, commended the work of the Police Command in Lagos State led by the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi.
he said his administration would continue to encourage the Police to do what was right at all times.
Speaking earlier, Justice Ogunbiyi commended the governor’s administration on the issue of security, as security remained top-notch in Lagos State.
She called on other state governments in the country to emulate Lagos’ security situation, which she said was top-notch as “Lagos is a model of how to handle security situations”.
“The Police are doing a good job in Lagos and they could also replicate in all other states and parts of the country.
“This is basically why we are here, to appreciate the governor and that he should continue with the good work,” Ogunbiyi said.
She said that the Police Service Commission would ensure that the Nigeria Police worked within the ambit of the law and ensure that they were well looked after.
Ogunbiyi, however, said that the commission would make sure the community had confidence in the Police.
