How we ’re winning war against crimes in Ogun, by Abiodun

Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, has disclosed how the state under his watch has been tackling insecurity and making the state safe for investors.

According to the governor, his administration has been able to create a job portal meant to reduce the number of unemployed or under-employed, and match them with employers, launch the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, FADAMA GUYS, among others.

Abiodun, who spoke yesterday at the 2021 capacity building workshop for security agencies in Lagos and Ogun states, organised by the Nigeria Police Force, Zone II Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, also said his administration had reconstituted and inaugurated the State Security Trust Fund and make it private-sector driven to provide logistic and equipment support for security agencies in the state.

He further said that the local vigilantes, Community Development Associations (CDAs) and Amotekun had been mainstreamed into the state security architecture to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in policing Ogun to ensure the welfare, well-being and security of life and property.

He, however, pointed out that the current insecurity in the country could be reduced to the barest minimum if more jobs were created and more youths empowered.

While noting that Ogun and Lagos states are like rivers that flow into each other, Abiodun posited that the two states must continue to synergise, particularly in the area of security.

He said state-based security agencies had been created to deal with peculiar security challenges, as the national police would not be able to handle the enormous security issues in all parts of the country.

In his speech, Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Folasade Jaji, stressed the need for co-operation between the people and civilians.

This, he said, had led to the first Lagos police/youth dialogue geared towards strengthening mutual relationship between the people and security agencies.

He urged the participants to bring ideas that would change the narrative in the society, adding that “the people need the police just as the police need the people.”

In his address, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, said that the police could not surmount security challenges without the support of other agencies, including the media, saying that enforcement agencies must develop capacity to achieve their constitutional mandates.

The IGP, who urged security officers to imbibe effective policing, charged the participants to sharpen their knowledge, saying: “They cannot give what they do not have.”