By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsuru Olowoopejo

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday, jerked up the death insurance benefit
for police officers who die in active service to the State to N10 million, saying that his administration would stop at nothing to ensure the safety of all citizens.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, 

Ambode, who spoke at Lagos House in Ikeja, after he was presented with two awards recently won in South Africa by the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of the State Police Command, said safety of the people remains one of the focal points of his administration, and that government would continually embrace measures to motivate officers of the command to perform their duties diligently.

The RRS, at the awards presented by Security Watch Africa, SWA, emerged as the best anti-crime police squad in West Africa, while the RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, won the award as the most outstanding police operational officer in Africa.

The state government also bagged award as the best security and most safety conscious state in Africa.

Speaking after receiving the awards, Governor Ambode congratulated the Commander and men of the RRS for the feat, saying that the people of the state appreciate the gallant efforts of the unit at bringing down crime rate in the State, especially in the last one year.

The governor also commended the State’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni for his purposeful leadership of the command, saying that it was evident that the police in Lagos was performing creditably well.

While alluding to the need for increment in the death insurance benefit of officers, Governor Ambode recalled the recent loss of lives of some officers in active service, adding that while government was not praying for the re-occurrence of such, it was appropriate to
reasonably reward the family of any officer in the event of eventual death.

He therefore said his administration was raising the stake of death insurance policy from the current N1 million for the rank and file and N2 million to senior officers to N10 million.

He said: “Recently, we lost some policemen due to no fault of theirs but some ugly incidences across the state.

“I have directed the State’s Pension Office and the Office of the Chief of Staff to increase the payment that we make to officers that die in active service which we are doing irrespective of whether you are a junior or senior officer, if you die in active service, the payment that will be made by the State Government is being increased to N10 million from this moment onwards,” he said.

Motorists advised to avoid recklessness
Meantime, Nigerians, especially motorists, have been advised to be safety-conscious during this Yuletide season, to avoid loss of life, while pointing at deplorable state of the roads, over speeding as some of the causes of accidents on the road.

Making this remarks in Lagos, Country Director, International Labour Organisation, ILO for ECOWAS, Dr. Dennis Zulu, represented by Dr. Pius Udo disclosed these during a health and safety social dialogue conference organised by, International Institute of Risk and Safety Management, IIRSM, in collaboration with ILO with the theme; ‘Managing Priority Health and Safety issues in the Road Transport Sector in Nigeria’.