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The Lagos State Government announced a new scheme to cushion the effect of the coronavirus lockdown extension in the state.
The governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during a media briefing at the State House, Marina on Tuesday, said the government would open food kitchens in all the councils in the state with a target to provide one meal per day to 100,000 youths as well as ‘unconditional cash transfer to 250,000 vulnerable residents and economically challenged persons who have identification numbers with Lagos State Residents Registration Agency’.
Sanwo-Olu also ordered the immediate release of all private and commercial vehicles impounded from March 1, 2020 for minor traffic offences by the police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and Vehicle Inspection Agency to date.
On the rising insecurity situation in the state amid the lock-down, the governor stated: “The seeming rise in unrest in the metropolis and boundary communities is very apt that we have just concluded an emergency Security Council meeting this afternoon, in which all the various heads of the state’s security agencies were present.
“At this meeting, we discussed the increasing reports of crime and criminality across the metropolis as cultists, miscreants and other criminals have sought to take advantage of the lockdown to unleash havoc on our people.
“One of our key responsibilities as an administration is the safety and security of the lives and properties of all citizens, and we will not abandon this responsibility at any time. There is no room whatsoever in Lagos State for criminal gangs or miscreants of any kind.
“In fact, over 100 suspects have been arrested in the last 72 hours on account of disturbances. All the suspects have accordingly been charged to court.
“Let me assure you that those miscreants that you may have seen in the videos going viral are not hungry people; they are not acting on the basis of hunger. They are opportunistic criminals, and they will be treated as such by the law enforcement agencies.
“We have been in close and constant communication with the Federal Government on this issue, and the I.G of Police has deployed a Deputy Inspector General of Police, who is a seasoned crime fighter, to Lagos as our Intervention Squad Coordinator to help devise and superintend over a superior strategy to curtail and stem the perceived and actual threat of violence.
“With this revised strategy, you will see an increase in mobile police deployment in all trouble spots in the metropolis; as well as the police intensifying their patrols around residential areas, boundary communities, and other critical areas of activities during this lockdown period.
“This will also be carried out in conjunction with other security agencies – Army; Navy; Airforce and Directorate of State Security Service.”
