One major challenge that confronts security operatives all over the world is the issue of intelligence gathering of relevant information that would aid the process of apprehending criminally-minded individuals. This remains a problem on one hand because the confidence reposed in the security operatives by the society overtime has not been convincingly proven beyond reasonable doubts. On the other hand, when informants provides security information, information provided usually lacks needed details that would assist in arresting supposed criminal suspects.
The popular slogan usually attributed to the Nigeria Police Force is; ‘Police is your Friend’ whether or not the officers of the Force have been acting as friends which they claimed to be is evident to all. Often time, the ‘friends` of the police have had reasons to spend days and even months behind bars for giving the police privileged information.
Drawing from the above foregoing issues bothering on protection of information sources and inaccuracies in the information provided in some other cases, in our clime here in Nigeria, the issue of inadequate law enforcement officers is another issue that has made crime rate grown far above the capacity that they can be curtailed and contained.
In Nigeria, the total number of police officers according to a past Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Caleb Olubolade, is 370,000 to about 170 million Nigerians, this grossly shows that the current workforce of the Police did not meet the United Nations recommendation of 222 police officers per 100,000 persons. By implication, the relative law and order in parts of the country is absolutely by God’s grace and mercy. Statistically, one police officer is attached to over 400 Nigerians.
Among this inadequate number also are some officers serving as personal Aids to political office holders as well as traditional rulers, captains of industries and many more thereby reducing the numbers of these officers far below one police officer per 400 Citizens. Also of note is the high concentration of these officers in the cities which in the effect has grossly made the hinterlands minimally protected.
There had been several agitations for the decentralization of the police force in Nigeria such that each state would be given the power to control its own security operatives and would exercise jurisdiction over their affairs but this proposal had over the years not received the needed attention for so many reasons partly because of political undertone and affiliations.
Lagos State being one of the States that are badly hit by the centralized police force arrangement had over the years devised peculiar ways of meeting the increasing security challenges of its citizenry some of which included the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Lagos State Task Force (LSTF), Rapid Respond Squad (RRS), Neighbourhood Watch for securing the State hinterlands among several others.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode upon assumption of office realized the need to deter criminal activities, increase vigilance, creates a greater sense of security and reduces fear of crime, addresses quality of life issues, enhances homeland security presence at the community level and thus approved the rebranding and modernization of the existing Neighborhood Watch into what is now known as Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, LNSC.
That rationale behind the establishment of this agency was premised on the belief that Lagos communities especially the suburbs can be better protected by those living within the community themselves through the promotion of community communalism. The inauguration of the corps was a follow-up to the passage of an executive bill for its establishment in June 2016.
Specifically, LNSC was a response to what Governor Akinwunmi Ambode described as diverse security challenges demanding the intervention of a supportive Safety Agency. As indicated in the law, the corps was established to assist the Nigeria Police and other security agencies in the maintenance of law and order across all communities in Lagos State, register all private home guards, provide useful intelligence for crime prevention to the police, facilitate the arrest of perpetrators of criminal activities across all communities, and the balancing of communal interests in resolving disputes.
An integral part of the recruitment process of the 5,700 corps to enforce the law, was the fact that the officers were recruited from within their residual localities where they already have a grasp understanding of the terrain and some other necessary security information as it affects the residents of these areas.
Governor Ambode had always hinged the prosperity of Lagos on a tripod of security, job creation and infrastructural development. It is the conviction of the state government that a safer Lagos will attract more investments from local and foreign investors believing that when investments are domiciled in the State, definitely, more job opportunities will surface.
Every resident owes it a duty to preserve and protect the place that provides the beneficial opportunities for all. The approach in use in Lagos to address security issues is also an indicator that some tough challenges may not necessarily need a ‘military-like’ approach, but rather a deliberate and purely systematic approach peculiar to that challenge and the environment especially when such challenge borders on security\safety.
In other words, government can creatively design peculiar ways of addressing some societal vices without necessarily altering the provisions of the constitution.
The cooperation of Lagosians for the crystallization of the noble intention behind the establishment of LNSC is of uttermost importance as these officers cannot make appreciable progress without the support of members of the society.
Also, officers of the LNSC should learn to jealously guide the confidence repose in them by Lagosians, by protecting the sources of security information that would aid in the apprehension of criminally minded individuals and generally assist in maintaining peace and tranquility across the length and breadth of the State.
- Afolabi is the Public Affairs Officer for Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency (LNSA).
