Press Releases

Crime Prevention: Fashola Advocates Elimination Of Desperate Conditions

Sep 7, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Monday advocated the elimination of desperate conditions as the most viable means to win the battle against crime in the country.

Governor Fashola, who spoke while playing host to the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos Command, Mr. Dauda Danladi Mungadi, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House, Ikeja, said it is not enough to apprehend people who break the Law.

“We must begin to do more and investigate why people break the Law and what we can do to ensure that the conditions that make them break the Law are mitigated”, the Governor said adding that since desperate conditions like poverty make people act desperately, the battle against crime should begin with efforts to eliminate the conditions that make people desperate.

According to the Governor, “Universally, it is acknowledged that desperate conditions make people act desperately and poverty is a desperate condition”, adding that the Lagos State Government has tried to use her budget and the resources at her disposal to fight poverty.

Attributing the increased reduction in crime in the State to the sustained war against poverty, Governor Fashola declared, “We have struck a balance between enforcement of the Law and opportunities for people to be employed. There are jobs that take people off the streets; more people are being employed, we have created driving institutes employing people to train people, addressing the environment and creating opportunities also to clean the State”.

“These are the collective efforts of policies and programmes, enforcement and opportunities that will have the impact of reducing crime because enforcement alone will not do it”, the Governor said adding that if people are desperate, and the desperate condition is not taken away from them, they will react to desperation.

Governor Fashola called on the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to use its intelligence network to assist the Government in investigating how deeply entrenched and how intensive are those desperate conditions that make people go into crime.

“Are they also influenced by people who want to incite people to violence for political benefits? Are the desperate conditions deliberately created?”, the Governor queried adding, “These are areas we think we can work together to act proactively now to prevent crime rather than just arresting them, because we take the view that by the time you are arresting a criminal, he is already a victim. We want to work in a way to ensure that there are no victims by preventing crime”.

The Governor also advocated the recruitment of more indigenous people to the Commands of the Corps in their states, adding, “This is the way that you will be able to win the trust of the people and once you win the trust of the people, information and intelligence gathering becomes easy”.

“Crime prevention and detection is not esoteric; it is about information; there is no magic wand to it. The people will only give you information if they trust you and they can only trust you if they know you”, the Governor said, adding that the more of the indigenous community that are involved in the State Command of the Corps, the more successful it is likely to be in its intelligence gathering.

Reiterating his call for State Police, Governor Fashola declared, “We are talking of the welfare of the security apparatus in the Civil Defence and the Police. One of the welfare components is Housing; how do you provide Housing for a police man that is constantly being posted?”

On the involvement of members of the Corps in traffic management in the State, Governor Fashola said the management of traffic in Lagos would better be left to a corps like LASTMA specially created by the State Government and continually trained to act proactively in the management of traffic in the State.

”The traffic management in Lagos constantly requires that we are proactive and reformatory about it and we believe that with the investment that we have made in LASTMA and the number of members of LASTMA that we have recruited by creating direct employment, a specialty of traffic management is better left to the agency”, the Governor said.

According to the Governor, “Issues of incidental security would be better dealt with by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps rather than going to duplicate what LASTMA is doing in terms of traffic management”, adding that in the last few weeks the Government has intensified training of LASTMA members to enforce Law and Order through traffic management, to be civil and courteous in doing so and also help apprehend people who pass themselves up as LASTMA and Taskforce officers and use the subterfuge to extort money from the citizens.

Wishing the new Commandant a fruitful and successful tenure in the State, Governor Fashola promised to look into the catalogue of requests the Commandant presented within the available resources of the State, pointing out that the most important responsibility the State Government has is that of protection of life and properties of the citizens.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commandant had requested that the State Command be included in the State Security Council meetings, that Corps members be involved in traffic management in the State, the release and approval of the plots of land for the State and Zonal Commands at Epe, and monthly subvention to the Corps “for effective operation”.

Also present at the occasion were the Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan, Head of Service, Alhaji Yakub Balogun, Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Lanre Balogun, Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mr. Jide Sanwoolu, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Tola Kasali, among other top Government functionaries and top officers of the NSCDC.