15th November, 2016
The Lagos State Government says it is dedicating this year’s Community Day to aggressively sensitise communities across the state to embark on community policing in order to curb rising insecurity.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Community Policing: A Panacea for Securing our Communities.”
Special Adviser to the Governor on Communities and Communication, Kehinde Bamigbetan at a news conference on Tuesday in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria to usher in this year’s Community Day celebration which would hold on Thursday at the Police College, Ikeja; said the theme was carefully chosen in view of the present security challenges in the nation and Lagos.
“This theme is very important to everyone in view of the present security challenges and the need to rally round the state government in ensuring that our state is safe and secured for all the residents,” he said.
Bamigbetan charged members of the Community Development Associations, CDAs, to come out massively to the Police College for the event to support the government in its bid to effectively police the grassroots.
“We make this demand in view of the progressive advance that this administration has made in protecting the lives and properties of Lagosians,” he said, adding that the government had done everything possible to secure the state by deploying massive personnel to combat crime, among others.
According to him, government had decided to demonstrate its capacity to protect lives and properties by establishing the Neigbhouhood Safety Agency, with plans to recruit 5,000 personnel for the new agency as the officers would earn N29,000 monthly allowances.
Bamigbetan, however, said it had become important to use the community day to focus on the challenges facing communities and initiating deliberations on the strategies to overcome the problems so that the global community could live in harmony and peace.
The special adviser disclosed that over 50,000 participants from the 3,400 CDAs in the state were expected to attend the community day celebration.
He added that the CDAs had executed and submitted 132 self-help projects across the state for assessment during this year’s celebration, saying that the areas of coverage included roads, classrooms, community halls, electric power projects and capacity building for youths.
Bamigbetan said the projects had been assessed and that 10 CDAs across the state would be rewarded for their developmental efforts during the community day programme on Thursday.