Speeches

5th Annual Town Hall Meeting Of The Lagos State Security Trust Fund

Nov 22, 2011 - I welcome you all very warmly to our 5th Annual Security Trust Fund meeting, to render account of our partnership on security, to highlight our successes and to share our challenges and suggest the options available to us as we consolidate on the building of a most strategic institution to maintain law and order.

Perhaps it is instructive to remind ourselves about how we got here.

When I assumed office in 2007, probably the biggest single challenge to the realization of our dreams was the problem posed by insecurity.

Not only were lives being lost to crime on an almost daily basis in traffic, bank robberies and home invasions, our law enforcement personnel were neither equipped to fight crime nor were they motivated to do so.

There were very few small businesses that operated after 7pm because our State was always in darkness after dusk.

As discouraging as this was for business and employment, it was sadly the perfect environment for crime to thrive.

I stand before you very proudly to assert that we have overcome many of these challenges.

The road to progress has not been easy. It has demanded thousands of hours of hard work which we have gladly given. We have been greatly inspired by your support and sense of community in joining us to fight crime and preserve law and order.

Our night life and economy is getting robust by the day and providing jobs for young people and investors in entertainment and hospitality.

Many more small businesses are opening and new hotels, restaurants, night clubs and cafes are springing up with the promise of more to come.

The increasing opportunities for business and employment and a growing economy are the biggest weapons for crime prevention.

We have complemented this by lighting up many streets of Lagos with power provided by diesel fired generators, and our policemen are better equipped to respond because they now have patrol vehicles and armored personnel carriers to fight crime.

Keeping them on the road to protect all of us requires hundreds of thousands of liters of petrol, diesel and other logistics.

We are paying them an improved monthly allowance and those at the vanguard of responding to violent crimes now have a group life and accident insurance coverage.

All of you signed up and resolved to make security everybody's business.

Our rallying point was the Security Trust Fund law which was the first legislation passed by our dynamic and forward looking House of Assembly under my tenure as Governor.

The support and enthusiasm with which all of you embraced the initiative for voluntary contribution to fund security is humbling for our Government.

We are truly appreciative and owe a debt of gratitude to many people especially our legislators, my colleagues in the State Executive Council and many bank executives, leaders of business and private citizens.

Let me publicly acknowledge what I think was the most touching contribution, not for its size but for its source. It came from school children who decided to support this Fund from their pocket money.

While it will be invidious of me to personally mention all of you. I must crave your indulgence to salute and acknowledge some individuals who were the champions and midwives of the idea.

Alhaji Musiliu Smith Retired Inspector General of Police, Mr. Jim Ovia, Mrs. Cecelia Ibru, Mr. Jacob Ajekigbe, Mr. Aigboje Imokhuede, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Mr. Femi Otedola.

Special mention must be made of all members of the State Security Council and members of the Trust Fund, but particularly the Chairman, Mr. Remi Makanjuola, who apart from making personal and corporate donation, not only agreed to serve as Chairman, but also a mobilizer of funds.

Our successes have brought on bigger challenges. Several thousands of Nigerians have moved to Lagos simply because we are safer.

The capacity we installed in 2007 has therefore become stretched.

The vehicles have aged and need to be replaced. The demands are new, the methods of the criminals are changing and they are investing in their business in order to put our own lives and businesses at risk.

This is the significance of this meeting. For us to demonstrate that we can sustain and maintain what we have built.

This year's meeting challenges the resolve we made in 2007, and calls upon us to acknowledge that crime is a threat to our businesses and our lives.

It is a meeting not just to render account to you, but to invite you to commit to a renewed investment to out-spend, out-think, out-manouver and defeat those who threaten us by their pursuit of illicit undertakings.

Quite apart from the regular payment of allowances, provision of vehicles, fueling of vehicles, maintenance and replacement of vehicles every year since 2007, let me acquaint you with a summary of equipment we have provided in year 2011 alone.

These include 10 (Ten) Armored Personnel Carriers bringing our current fleet to a total of 30; 60 (Sixty) high power motor-bikes; 50 (Fifty) patrol vehicles and 6 (Six) boats.

We have also secured approval for 5 (Five) new Area Commands which we intend to build starting from year 2012.

We hope that from this meeting, we will raise enough money to provide 500 (Five Hundred) more vehicles, 200 (Two Hundred) more patrol bikes and at least 20 (Twenty) more armored personnel carriers.

Before I conclude, let me state very categorically that security of lives and the protection of property is our primary responsibility as your representatives in Government.

Our invitation to you in 2007, the composition of the membership of the Trust Fund and our yearly meetings are the clearest indications of our commitment to the participatory nature of our democracy.

Our recourse to you today, is an acknowledgment of impact and success that your participation brought about at the time of an imminent security crisis.

Our biggest challenge today is to elicit a similar or better response from you today at a time when things have improved, so that we can act pro-actively rather than re-actively as we did 4 (Four) years ago.

Your voluntary contributions from today by way of cash, vehicles, and provision of fuel or any service that will improve our capacity will be the strongest possible statement we all can make about our determination to secure and protect the place we all call home.

I thank you for your partnership, as I await your response to this renewed call to put your money as they say, where your interests lie.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State