The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday, appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to support his administration’s efforts to strengthen the security of lives and property through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF).
The governor appealed at a private breakfast meeting with select managing directors and chief executive officers of companies in Ikoyi, organised by the LSSTF to raise funds for critical security needs for 2026.
According to him, the funds will be deployed to procure multipurpose security helicopters and drones, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), water cannons, digital communication equipment, smart CCTV cameras, patrol vehicles, and an ultra-modern mechanical workshop, as well as for tactical training and infrastructural upgrades for the police.
Sanwo-Olu said previous interventions by the private sector had been judiciously utilised by the LSSTF, adding that the Lagos security funding model had been adopted by other states and even the Federal Government.
“On a year-on-year basis, the Lagos State Government has never taken a back seat in its responsibility. We still fund well over 50 per cent of what happens annually,” he said.
“But we wanted it to be something the private sector can trust, where they can see that their support is transparently deployed and there is accountability at all times.”
The governor disclosed that the state was rebuilding its Command and Control Centre with state-of-the-art equipment and expanding its CCTV infrastructure.
“We started with a safe city model and planned to deploy between 5,000 and 10,000 cameras across Lagos. We haven’t gone as far as we want, and we need to scale it up,” he said.
“We want to ensure Lagos remains secure and improve the rescue capacity and capability of our first responders.”
Reacting to recent protests over demolitions in parts of Makoko, Sanwo-Olu said the government’s actions were taken in the overall public interest and to avert potential disasters.
“I have been accused of destroying Makoko. But shanties were sprawling rapidly towards the Third Mainland Bridge, with high-tension power lines underneath,” he said.
“I am not going to sit down and allow a situation where something collapses, and hundreds of people die in one day. What we did was to push them back for their own safety.”
He also criticised some non-governmental organisations, accusing them of exploiting the situation for financial gain, and insisted that the government had no intention of displacing residents unnecessarily.
“We are not about taking anything away from anybody; we are trying to make life better and safer for our people,” the governor said.