Lagos State stakeholders on Tuesday asked Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola and Police Affairs counterpart Muhammad Dingyadi to facilitate special status for Lagos by the Federal Government.
A communique by stakeholders hosted by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to meet the Federal Government delegation as part of Interior Ministry’s programme on engagement on internal security and conflict resolution also recommended the creation of jobs to meet the needs of youths for work.
The event, held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium at the Lagos State secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja attracted top government functionaries including the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadiri Hamzat.
The stakeholders urged the government to improve the working conditions of the police through salary increases and welfare benefits to boost their commitment.
The stakeholders, including traditional rulers led by the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, radical human rights lawyer Femi Falana, chairman, Lagos State chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Comrade Lekan Oba and leading politicians such as Dr.Yomi Finnih urged the government to step up its intelligence effort to pre-empt crises and restructure police operations to conform with the country’s federal system.
They urged the Federal Government to provide crowd control equipment and set aside protest arena for citizens to express dissent.
Other resolutions in the communique include:
-the need to expose youths to counselling and the knowledge of God, for proper guidance;
– More engagement of the youths, as they also have ideas that could assist in formulating policies for Government;
– Reintroduction of value driven programmes (i.e. Boys Scout, Girls Guild etc) in our schools to meaningfully engage our youths. and adequate training and grooming of the wards by their parents.
Addressing the stakeholders earlier, Interior Minister Aregbesola eulogised the city of Lagos as the destiny of the African race where he cut his teeth as a politician.
He said although the country faced security challenges, things had not degenerated to the Hobbesian state of nature where life was brutish, poor and nasty.
He expressed shock at the burning of the palace of the Oba of Lagos and appealed for the preservation of the heritage of the Nigerian people.
In his remarks, Police Affairs Minister Dingyadi commiserated with Governor Sanwo-Olu over the loss of lives and properties due to the violence which trailed the #EndSARS protests adding that President Muhammadu Buhari recently addressed some of their demands by approving salary increase for police officers.
Tuesday’s stakeholders’ meeting is the third of a five-city engagement that began in Maiduguri, moved to Katsina and Lagos. It moves to Enugu soon.
