Lagos state House of Assembly Thursday amended the Lagos state Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) bill to accommodate the South West security outfit code named ‘Amotekun’.
The bill, which was read for the first and second time during plenary, was fixed for a public hearing for Monday 24th February, 2020.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, subsequently committed the bill to the house Committee on Information, Publicity, Security and Strategy headed by Hon Tunde Braimoh, and was asked to report back to the house sine die.
The Clerk of the House, Mr Azeez Sanni, had informed the house that he received a letter from the state’s Commissioner for Justice, Hon Moyosore Onigbanjo, on Wednesday 19th February, 2020, on the amendment of the Lagos state Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC).
Sanni was subsequently ordered to read the bill entitled a House of Assembly Bill No 5 Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) amendment bill 2020 and for Connected Purposes for the first and second times.
The Majority Leader of the house, Hon Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1), said that the bill is an executive bill, but that it is predicated on the private member bill that established LNSC, which he said has been working well.
Agunbiade added that the bill is incorporating the concept of a more dynamic and more strengthened security platform than what they had in Lagos State.
“It will have a commander and Amotekun Corps would bear harms with the permission of the police. They will cooperate with other security platforms in Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti and Osun States,” he said.
In his contribution, Hon Oluyinka Ogundimu, (Agege 2), commended the foresight of the house on the security of the state and added that the law covers wider areas and made internal security a priority.
He called for local content in the bill, adding that they needed people with native intelligence, and that whoever would be appointed as the Head of the unit should be approved by the House.
Hon Olumuyiwa Jimoh, (Apapa 2) said that there is a problem of nomenclature in the Bill.
Jimoh stated that the Nigerian Police had been existing before independence and that the people had been talking about their reforms.
“South Africans have their own native police that checkmate other security forces. We can have the military wing of Amotekun in Lagos,” he said.
In his view, Hon Rotimi Olowo, (Shomolu 1) said that Amotekun started in Lagos with LNSC, and that the federal police lacked character as their structure has not helped to suppress crime.
“Security is local and it should be localized. The issue of kidnapping and others give credence to the need for community police. They should be allowed to use guns. They can reduce armed robbery attack, kidnapping and others. We should allow more money into the system.
“The recruitment of Amotekun should be localized. They should work in their neighbourhood so that they could apprehend criminals in their areas,” he said.
Also supporting the issue, (Hon.) Rasheed Makinde, Ifako/Ijaiye 2 stated that security is local and that the country was getting close to having state police.
“We are setting a pace for other political regions in Nigeria. They can assist when there is any accident on our highways. There would be collaboration amongst the six western states and beyond,” he said.
Hon. Tunde Braimoh (Kosofe 2) said that governance is about giving meaning to the yearnings and aspirations of the people and stressed that what the people of the South West wanted now is security.
The matter was also supported by all the lawmakers, who spoke on the matter including Hon. Victor Akande (Ojo 1), Hon. Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho 1), Adedamola Richard Kasunmu (Ikeja 2) and Hon. David Setonji (Badagry 2).
