Lagos Assembly seeks National Counterpart on State Police

The Lagos State House of Assembly urged the National Assembly to begin a constitutional amendment process that would result in the establishment of state police.

In its first plenary session since taking office, On Tuesday, the state’s 10th Assembly also urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to urgently equip the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps for efficiency in community policing.

The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, said these actions would stem rising insecurity in the country.

Obasa, in a statement by his media aide, Eromosele Ebhomele, noted with concern recent attacks in the country, including the killing of some residents in Plateau State and the abduction of the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, Mr Paul Omotoso.

He said it was the appropriate time for the Senate and the House of Representatives to begin a process of amendment to the constitution to provide for the creation of the alternative policing system, adding that the Lagos Assembly was strongly in support of the establishment of state police.

“While I commend the ninth National Assembly for doing a lot to amend the constitution, there is a need for us to call on the 10th National Assembly to see it as a matter of urgency to make the issue of state policing a major factor of development,” Obasa said.

A member of the House, Gbolahan Yishawu, who lauded Obasa for raising the issue of state police, said, “We remember very well that it was you that sponsored the bill on Neighbourhood Safety Corps and we see what it has done for our state and how other states are copying it.”