Security experts have called for more collaboration between citizens and security agents to ensure safety for all.

The experts made the call at the Citizens Accountability and Rights Forum (CARF), a monthly stakeholders’ interactive roundtable on public policy making and execution, organised by the Committee for the Defence of Human Right (CDHR) in collaboration with the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL).

The roundtable themed: “Lagos State Environmental Laws: Implications and Effects on Human and Socio-economic Right of the People”, is aimed at discussing contemporary issues and government policies as it relates to the citizens.

It is focused on safety and security in Lagos State, efficiency and effectiveness, issues and challenges.

Speaking, Director of Public Affairs, Lagos State Fire Service, Amodu Shakiru, said the issue of safety and security is for everybody, and everyone’s responsibility.

“Safety and security work together and there is a need for all of us to collaborate to solve the issue of security and safety.

“Although there are challenges that cannot be totally eliminated, we can bring it to the barest minimum,” he said.

Executive Director, Secure World and Liberty Initiative for Peace (SELIP), Mark Adebayo reiterated that security and safety is everybody’s business, and not only for uniform personnel.

“We should be our neighbour’s keeper when it comes to security. Everybody should know that the security of his neighbour is also part of his responsibility. The only thing we can do is to make sure that we collaborate very well with the security agencies,” he stated.

Earlier in his address, President CDHR and Chairman CACOL, Debo Adeniran noted that urban challenges are multi-dynamic and are associated with several factors, including urbanisation, urban poverty, social exclusion, social injustice, urban informality, inadequate infrastructure and socio-cultural factors .

He lamented that the issue of cyber-crime, economic fraud, theft and robbery are increasing by the day with deteriorated urban areas.

He further lamented that several government security policies such as the National Defence Policy 2006 and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Conflict Prevention Framework and Human Right Act adopted to protect lives and property of citizens are inadequate in achieving the desired results.

He said: “Human abduction, armed robbery, terrorism, bomb attacks and lots more are the common urban security and safety challenges in some parts of the country though not common in Lagos.

“Safety on the road, at work and ability to nip in the bud any unforeseen occurrences like fire incidents are other critical areas of safety that we need to improve on.

“Seeking a solution to these challenges has become the general concern of every citizen without significant improvement, hence the need for us to use the opportunity provided by this forum to discuss and offer relevant and useful suggestions on how we all can be more secure and promote safety and security in the state.”