Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday compensated the families of six police officers killed in Lagos State during the violence that trailed the EndSARS protests with N10 million each.

The compensation was in fulfillment of the state government’s pledge made during an earlier meeting with police officers at the state police command.

Sanwo-Olu in fulfilment of his promise to the families also announced scholarship awards to the children of the deceased officers up to the university level.

The governor presented cheques to the wives and children of the slain officers at the 14th Town Hall meeting on security, held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island.

 The annual event with the theme: “Lagos Security: Resilience in the Face Adversity”, was organised by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF.

The late police officers are: Yaro Edward, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Inspector Ayodeji Erinfolami, Inspector Aderibigbe Adegbenro, Inspector Samsom Ehibor, Sergeant Bejide Abiodun and Inspector Igoche Cornelius.

 Sanwo-Olu described the slain officers as “heroes”, saying the deceased sacrificed their lives to secure lives and properties in the State.

 According to him, the compensation was the state government’s modest reward for their gallantry, stressing that the gesture would help the families to heal from the loss.

 He said, “Some of our gallant police officers paid the supreme price for our security and safety during the recent EndSARS protests. These are the officers deployed to protect our families from hoodlums but they were lynched in the violence. Today, I am happy to announce and present N10 million compensation through LSSTF to each family of the officers. All their children have also be placed on scholarship up to university level, courtesy of the State Government.”

Sanwo-Olu, at the event also received the report of security activities across the state in the last 12 months from Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, expressing his delight at the downward trend observed in sophisticated crimes, such as kidnapping and armed robbery, in the last one year.

 As Lagos embarks on rebuild effort, Sanwo-Olu reiterated that security would remain a top priority for his Government.

 He noted that Lagos was on the verge of bridging technological and logistical gap in its security architecture before the violence that trailed EndSARS protest erupted.

According to the governor, the coordinated arson of the past weeks had necessitated the need to tighten security across the state, giving assurance that his administration would invest more in intelligence-led policing and improve operational capacity and welfare of personnel serving in Lagos.

He said: “We must sustain the steady progress Lagos has recorded in security of lives and businesses. The issue of security is a shared mission.

The more we are able to engage the citizens, the better we will become at nipping crimes in the bud. Our Government will continue to proactively engage all stakeholders as part of ongoing exercise to address all security concerns.

 “We have taken proactive measure of making the necessary budgetary provision for security. We will be committing N37.8 billion to Public Order and Safety in 2021 because we fully understand the correlation between development and security.

“We will stop at nothing to flush out criminal elements whose sole aim is to foment chaos and perpetrate crimes. Lagos will offer no hiding place for bandits and criminals.”