By Monsuru Olowoopejo

Despite the various security strategies adopted by the Lagos State Government, residents have continued to lament the rising number of robbery cases in the state. In 2007, when Governor Babatunde Fashola came on board, he had initiated the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF, to fund the police and other security officials in the state to enhance policing across the state.

Fashola

Following the manhunt on robbers and unscrupulous elements, by the security agencies, at the onset of Fashola’s administration, most of them were forced to leave the state to other states, even as night life gradually returned to the state. But recently, the activities of hoodlums in Ajao Estate, Mafoluku, the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Iyana Oworonshoki and other parts of the state, have continued to give residents deep worry.

Experience in the hands of hoodlums

Narrating his experience in the hands of hoodlums, Mr. Kehinde Owolabi, said: “It all happened last week, when I was returning from Osun State to meet my brother who resides at Iyana-Iba area. It was around 10.00pm that I got to the bus-stop, I was courageous on seeing the presence of some policemen who manned an Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC on the bus-stop.

“My brother and I were standing few meters from where the policemen were, when three unknown gunmen brandishing weapons, accosted us, demanding that we handover all our valuables to them.

“Before the policemen manning the APC could respond, the robbers had dispossessed us of our valuables and disappeared into thin air,” he said.

Also at Iyana-Iba Bus Stop, Miss. Favour Sunday, said “I boarded a commercial Coaster Bus from Mile 2, at Iyana-Iba Bus Stop, my phone rang. While receiving the call, some hoodlums approached me and dispossessed me of my phone. Before I could raise an alarm, they had disappeared.”

Also, residents of Ajao Estate and Mafoluku have last weekend raised alarm over the serial cases of robbery along the International Airport Road, under the bridge adjacent the DHL office.

Reacting, to the security situation in the state, Fashola who spoke during an end of the year press briefing, said: “We get all the security reports and that was why we have appealed to residents to alert us whenever they discover any strange occurrence in their community. We can’t be everywhere because we only have about 30, 000 officers to police the state. That is the reality.

“So we continue to be inventive and innovative with the resources that we have. And that was why we use more of the patrol motorbikes during the rush hours when we believe that people will be in the traffic across the state. This is to ensure that law enforcement officers are closer to the residents always,” he said.

The governor however cautioned residents against the open display of valuables such as jewellery, cash, phones and others. “This attracts petty thieves. So you must be the first line of defence in security,” he said.

Lamenting that the state of insecurity in the country was affecting the state, as displaced people were finding their way en masse into the state, Fashola said: “All over the world, there is usually a ratcheting up of criminal behaviours in the end of the year because there are a lot of money moving around.

“I think last year (2013) in London, when I checked the number of bag snatching, shoplifting and other misdemeanour, it was on the increase.

“Those issues were some of the things we anticipated and we are doing our best to ensure that we curtail them. Instead of monthly security meeting, we have been holding weekly security meetings to ensure that the city is save. All our security officers are on the high alert. And even now, we will be reviewing the security status of the state until all the tensions subside.”