Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has said that the two armoured cars bought at the cost of N255 million for the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, will purchase 51 patrol vehicles for the Nigerian Police.

The governor said this at the 7th annual Town Hall Meeting on Security, themed: ‘Sustaining Local Responding To Rising National Security Challenges,’ held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

He stated that it is sad to know that the Federal Government that allocate three patrol vehicles for one state police command of 370, 000 police men, is unable to resolve how N255 million was used to purchase 2 saloon vehicles for one officer adding that it is a very grave irony.

Governor Fashola noted that the cost of an average vehicle needed to patrol the state is just N5 million. And with such fund, they would have put at least 51 patrol vehicles on the road, patrolling the streets of Lagos.
 
He explained that in spite of all this, they resist the idea of a state police adding that the money from the fund was in the last one year used to provide vehicles for the Nigerian Prison Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, National Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC and indeed the airport wing of the Nigerian police, is funded from the money and it is the same aviation ministry that manage the airport that they had this very odious car scandal of N255 million.
 
The governor noted that the upshot of central Government’s failure to confront security has continued for the past seven years noting that the residents of Lagos have borne the burden of that neglect, and there is no indication that anything will change soon, in spite of endless reform deliberation and proposals.

On the crime rate in the state, Fashola stated that the crime data base now has record content of 92, 488 which helps them to keep track of all those who have been arrested, prosecuted, jailed or have any contact with the criminal justice system adding that the state is preparing for a future of crime prevention, saying “it will be technologically driven, scientifically grounded and result assured.”