The Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday took on the Federal Government over its “seeming refusal to properly equip federal security agencies”, a development he said now places the burden on states, with Lagos expending N8.7 billion in this regard in the last five years.

Umar Manko, Lagos State commissioner of police, said no fewer than 32 policemen have been killed in Lagos State by armed robbers during gun battle within the space of 11 months. He explained that the figure represents an increase over the number of policemen killed in gun battle with robbers last year which stood at 19. But the police in turn killed not less than 140 robbers in the process.

Fashola said with the huge financial burden, Lagos was already running ‘state police’ and all the Federal Government needed to do was to cause amendments to the constitution to allow the state do so constitutionally.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 6th Annual Town Hall meeting on security with theme ‘Growing Our Investment in Security’, Fashola disclosed that the sum of N8.7 billion has so far been expended through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) to keep the police and other security agencies functional in Lagos. The LSSTF was launched in November 2007 with appeal to the public and corporate bodies to contribute towards empowering the police to fight crime. Some states of the federation have emulated the concept.

Fashola said in the last five years of the existence of LSSTF, a total number of 600 patrol vehicles had been purchased and distributed to various security agencies with the police as major beneficiary. These according to him, are in addition to several Amoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), daily fuelling of patrol vehicles, purchase of arms and ammunition, communication equipment, payment of N25,000 monthly allowances to members of Rapid Response Squad (RRS), among others.

He lamented that during this period, the Lagos police command had received only 30 patrol vehicles from the Federal Government, a situation he said has left 85 percent burden of funding the police in Lagos on the state government and contributors to the LSSTF.

“The Federal Government has not helped matters by its seeming refusal to properly equip its agencies to wit: the police and other security agencies. In spite of the talk of the police reform over the past decade, nothing substantial appears to have been done beyond rhetoric.”

Noting that security is everybody’s business, Fashola called on corporate donors and individuals to continue to support the LSSTF, saying the establishment of the funds has helped in no small measure to keep Lagos safe for living and doing business.