Despite the spike in security threats faced by businesses across the country on a daily basis, one of the state actors in Lagos, Prince Ifalade Oyekan the General Manager of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Agency (LNSA), has assured members of the organised private sector and the public in general of the Agency’s commitment to the safety and security of lives and property in the state.
Oyekan who gave this assurance while speaking with newsmen in Lagos recently, said his team in the last five years has been safeguarding neighbourhoods in partnership with the good people of Lagos state.
While rendering an account of his stewardship in the last five years in office, he said the Agency has achieved some modest successes thus far even as it is poised to take on further critical roles in accordance with its mandate.
According to him, barring any last minute hitches, the Lagos state government will formally unveil its state police later this December.
Having understood the Lagos terrain with all its socio-cultural and economic complexities, the Agency is ready to fulfill its fresh mandate as a fully functional state police outfit, he stressed.
Specifically, he said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu charged the Agency to transform into a fully functional state police two years ago.
In furtherance of that mandate, the LNSA boss said the Agency has since embarked on total overhaul of its operations and personnel as a whole.
“We have since embarked on a robust rebranding and repositioning exercise in order for us to be able to carry out the onerous task ahead of us,” he said, adding that the Agency has introduced professional services with specialised units to cater for routine assignments as well as operational exigencies as the case may be.
“Thanks to Mr. Governor who provided funding and other logistics support, the Agency hopes to recruit over 1, 000 personnel in the coming months. We have also taken delivery of state of the art safety and security appliances as well as operational vehicles and other equipment which will enable us to police the entire length and breadth of the state seamlessly, efficiently,” said an elated Oyekan.
While noting that the Agency has all it takes including men and resources to police the state, Oyekan said he is not mindful of the challenges ahead but is very optimistic that the intelligence gathering mechanisms being adopted by his entire team will stand the test of time.
“The entire team at the Agency is mentally, physically and psychologically ready for the task ahead and we are assuring Lagosians and the taxpayers that we won’t disappoint them. All we seek is their cooperation.”
Besides, he said the Agency has also built a synergy of cooperation with sister agencies like the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, Department of State Security Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and a host of others for ease of operations.