Metro
LSSTF: Sanwo-Olu to Host 16th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security
Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, will meet security stakeholders in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos on Thursday 24th November, 2022 at 11:00am.
The Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security, 16th in its edition, hosted by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) is with the theme “LSSTF Stewardship: A Review of our activities in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda of the Lagos State Government”, National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) can report.
The main focus of this year’s Town Hall Meeting is to take a retrospective look at the current administration’s developmental strides across all spheres of governance particularly in the area of security.
The issues of insecurity has been a major concern in the country, and by extension Lagos State, and while security is under the purview of the Federal Government, the ingenuity of the State Government to mitigate crime in order to ensure its residents continue to enjoy safety and thriving business in a seemingly conducive environment is worthy of note.
Headed by the Executive Secretary/CEO, Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun, Lagos State Security Trust Fund is the organization that facilitates safety and security through its support to security agencies in Lagos State.
NAOSNP gathered that the organization will render account of its stewardship while intimating attendees at the event of its security interventions from 2019 till date.
Also, the external auditors to the Fund, Ernst and Young, will give their opinion on the 2021 audit report of the Fund while the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Abiodun Alabi will also give a report on the activities of the Command including their challenges and achievements in the year under review.
Security is a collective responsibility and as such every resident and anyone with economic or social interest vested in Lagos State is a stakeholder and with the Y2023 general election fast approaching, there is need for all to come together to deliberate on strategies, policies and most importantly have a one on one with the Governor of the State to collectively chart a way forward for a sustainable and proactive security architecture that will improve the operational capacity of our security agencies in the effective discharge of their duties.
This is an important security stakeholders meeting that will have in attendance representations from every sector of the economy and society in the state, including security chiefs, heads of safety and security agencies as well as security professionals.
As attendance at the event is strictly by invitation, stakeholders are therefore encouraged to join the conversation live on YouTube or Facebook on Lagos State Security Trust Fund handles or @followlsstf on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #SecureLagos.
Your participation and contributions in making Lagos safer would be highly appreciated and this is in our collective best interest.
Operatives of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and other emergency responders, on Saturday, combated an industrial fire outbreak at Mega Plastics Company located at No.4, Ilupeju Bypass beside Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Ilupeju area of Lagos.
A statement made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Traffic Officer, Adebayo Taofiq, quoted the officer on ground, as Ayo Olaosebikan, as confirming that the rescue team arrived at the scene of the industrial fire outbreak around 6:30am before other emergency responders were contacted.
“Immediately we arrived at the scene of the industrial fire, we quickly informed other emergency responders particularly the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services and the Nigerian Police,” Olaosebikan was quoted as saying.
While the cause of industrial fire could not be immediately ascertained, priliminary investigation revealed that the storage and factory section of the petrochemical company were seriously affected by the fire outbreak.
Other Emergency responders on ground were the Federal/State Fire Services, Police and LASEMA Response Unit.
No injury or death was recorded as at the time of filing the report.
By Eric Elezuo
The Director, Public Affairs, National Office, West African Examination Council (WAEC), Mrs. Moyosola Adesina, has disclosed that the exam body is not in any way exempted by the after effects of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the society, stressing that it has at one time or another being a victim of the menace, but has always found a way to get free of the entanglement.
The WAEC image maker, who crowned the NAOSNP Image Maker of Year (government agencies) award, made the disclosure this while participating as a panelist at the 2023 National Security Conference of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP) held at the Civic Centre Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday.
Adesina harped that the issue of small arms and light weapons in the hands of non state actors is not only worrisome, but that time has come when a wholistic approach is applied to reduce the menace to the barest minimum, and possibly eliminate it completely.
She said that the examination body, which has put everything in place to ensure that exams are not disrupted and also that ease is brought in to assist in gaining access to WAEC materials and services, is bothered with the insecurity situation as sometimes, hoodlums, armed and ready to pounce, do ambush and highjack officials, equipment and materials of the exam body thereby putting a clog in the conduct of exams.
“Each time our question papers are snatched or officials attacked, it affects not only examinations in Nigeria, but the entire five member countries. It also affects the finances of the council and consumes time needed for other ventures as there will be complete re-setting of the exam questions and other matters arising. So the issue of insecurity is very challenging,” she said.
She also clarified the issue of WAEC vindictiveness, saying that the body is only interested in testing the candidate’s ability, and awards whatever one is able to score in the examination.
“WAEC doesn’t victimized anyone, but only out to conduct the exams and award scores as merited. We are not a vindictive organisation, but an organisation saddled with the responsibility of helping candidates attain their full potential through their own hard work,” she said.
While lauding the efforts of security operatives in combating crimes and criminals, Adesina also informed that that WAEC certificates are now digitalis and easy to come by as anyone can log into the site and easily download his.
“This is one of many innovations of WAEC to make life easy for all candidates, in the past, present and future,” Adesina concluded.
Performing double functions on the day, Mrs Adesina also represented the Head of National Office, Mr. Patrick Areghan, who bagged the NAOSNP Man of the Year award (Education).
WAEC is a sub-regional examination body comprising Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
By Eric Elezuo
A security expect and Chief Executive Officer, Safety Signatures Limited, Dr. Cynthia Gregg, has identified the need for individuals to have intimidate and dominion over their fellow man as one of the reasons for the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Nigerian Civil space, thereby resulting in insecurity and unsafe habitation.
Gregg made the observation while participating as a panelist during the panel session of the 2023 National Security Conference of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), on Thursday at the Civic Centre, Lagos.
The security practitioner noted that the issue of small arms and light weapons in the hands of non state actors, has become a major concern to all and sundry as killings abound, affecting both men in uniform and their civilian counterparts in the country today.
“We have noticed that in our society today, the person who carries the weapon is the most feared, and so because everyone wants to be feared, wants to dominate and intimidate the other person, they go to any length to acquire illegal weapons. That explains why when a robber encounters someone, the first thing they do is brandish a weapon or unleash some brutality to subdue their victim. It is the norm, unfortunately,” she said.
She further called on the public to encourage and help the law enforcement agencies to carry out their duties by saying something when they see something, and advocated community engagement to deal with challenges of proliferation of lethal weapons in the hands of non state actors.
Again, Gregg lauded the efforts of NAOSNP in using its platform to propagate safety and security through fruitful engagements with relevant institutions and reportage of credible security stories as well as advocacy through its enviable conferences.
