November 14, 2014 – The Lagos State Government said it has distributed communication and defence gadgets like walkie-talkies, batons and shut-guns to officials of the Neighbourhood Watch Security Outfit as part of efforts to tackle security challenges in the state.
Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi made the revelation while speaking at the 2014 edition of Community Day in Lagos.
Ojelabi who spoke on the theme, ‘Community mobilization: Panacea for security challenge’, explained that members of the outfit were drawn from community development associations in their respective communities and that it has become a veritable tool in grassroots policing.
“It’s members gather information on security matters in their domain and forward same to the larger security outfits in the state for action”, he said adding that to perform effectively the ministry embarked on training and retraining of officials of the outfit.
He explained that about 3,360 community development associations have been mobilized through community development committees to different fora where issues bothering on government policies, programmes and activities, particularly security related issues and tips are disseminated.
“The fora also serve as avenue for cross fertilization of ideas between the CDC members, top government officials and security agencies, while information shared at the fora are always taken back to the people to guide and improve the quality of life of the people in their various communities”, he said.
Earlier in his speech, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola had commended the outfit for their diligence to duty.
“Our very reliable and able security networks have continued to communicate and work with our local police here to keep our communities safe for ourselves and our children”.
“Today, you are seeing the first batch of their patrol vehicles, improvement in their equipment and their uniform and slowly, day by day, we are developing our own local security architecture. We are showing that by mere presence in the streets, by being vigilant, by seeing something and saying something, we can protect our communities and our neighbourhood”, he said.
