Lagos Security Trust Fund now N6.2 billion

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on Tuesday said the Lagos State Security Trust Fund had raised over N6.2bn in materials and money in the past three years.

Fashola, who spoke at the fourth town hall meeting on security organised by the LSSTF in Lagos, said the contributions of the people of the state to the fund had boosted his administration’s fight against crime. He, however, lamented the impact of the economic recession on the contributions of major donors to the fund.

The governor, therefore, called on individual and corporate donors to continue to support the LSSTF. He pointed out that a centralised police force, whose ability “to perform its duties is predicated on the level of support it receives in material and logistics provided by its principal, the Federal Government.”

Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, said operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad foiled at least 64 armed robbery attacks between October 2009 and September 2010.

Akpoyibo said the crime rate in the state had dropped by 79 per cent, adding that security agents responded to 25 fire outbreaks and 27 accidents in the state within the same period.

Akpoyibo praised the state government for setting up the LSSTF, saying it was responsible for the success recorded so far. He said the fund had bolstered security in the state through capacity-building.

The police commissioner, who commended the public-private partnership approach to security management in the state, declared ‘zero tolerance’ for crime. He said the state government’s mission was “already being realised as crime indices have now assumed a downward trend.”

According to him, it is normally expected that in mega cities, armed robbery, murder, fraud, car theft and trans-border crime will be at a high level. He, however, said the reverse was the case in the state.L