LAGOS NEIGHBOURHOOD SAFETY CORPS REITERATES COMMITMENT TO MANDATE

The Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Agency, LNSA, has declared that it has lived up to its mandate of securing Lagos Neighbourhoods since its establishment a year ago.

The Chairman, LNSC, Mr. Israel Ajao, a former Lagos Commissioner of Police in a media release over the weekend, said that the achievements of the Agency within the short period of its existence proved that Officers of the Corps are more than resolute in their commitment to duty.

The Rtd DIG, speaking against the backdrop of a story in a national daily newspaper which sought to cast aspersions on the laudable achievements of the Corps members, commended the tireless efforts of the Corps Officers whose visibility in our neighbourhood has been the hallmark of community policing.

While emphasising that the giant strides of the Agency within the very short period cannot be overemphasized, Ajao warned that biased and negative criticism of the Corps is capable of discouraging the commitment of the Corps members.

In his words, “It is important to set the records straight that the primary purpose for which the Corps was established was to provide a second layer of community policing by partnering with other security agencies, most especially the Nigerian Police in gathering, collating and sharing of information as well as intelligence”.

“I must emphasise that the LNSC was not established to compete with or take over the work of the Nigerian Police or any allied security agency. This is why they are not armed; rather they are provided with gadgets such Rubber batons, Bicycles, Helmets, Whistles, Cars and other Communication gadgets. It is only against this backdrop that the Corps Officers can be appraised fairly”, he added.

Ajao maintained that even a diehard critic will score LNSC high considering the volumes of intelligence it has shared on crime control.

He noted that identified heavily populated Neighbourhoods with a predisposition to crime will naturally witness high visibility of the Corps.

“Our presence at State functions is conspicuous because of the need for security just as we provide the same level of security in the Neighborhoods” he explained.

While narrating that criminals don’t have barriers in their nefarious acts and LNSC will not adopt barriers in protecting people, the Chairman declared that the Agency has arrested cultists, armed robbers, human traffickers, hoodlums, sexual offenders, burglars and murder suspects in the last one year.

We have continued to work in synergy with the Police for covert and overt operations to keep the dreaded “Badoo cultists” in check at Ikorodu and ensure peace in other communities, the LNSA boss said.