The South West Initiative (SWI) has commended Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for strengthening and prioritising the security of the state with the drone surveillance programme aimed at improving crime monitoring and emergency response.
According to the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Olugbenga Oyerindehe the Lagos State Government had last week launched a drone surveillance programme aimed at improving crime monitoring and emergency response of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps across the state.
Reacting to the development, SWI in a statement on Sunday, through its Director General, Razaq Olokooba, applauded the Lagos governor for being proactive and prioritising the lives and property of residents of Lagos.
Olokooba while describing the drone surveillance initiative as a masterstroke, praised the state government for choosing to deploy technology to reduce security threats to the barest minimum.
He urged Nigerians to rally around the Sanwo-Olu-led administration in Lagos while assuring the group’s readiness to provide intelligence gathering for the security agents in the state.
“Safety and security lie at the heart of the prosperity of any nation or state because it’s important for development. Lagos is Nigeria’s commercial nerve center, and like any other megalopolis, it has latent security challenges, but we are glad Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is addressing and mitigating it.
“We hail the governor because he is not docile and reactive with the security of the state but rather always anticipating and prepared adequately to secure the state. The addition of drone surveillance technology is a good step in the right direction.
“As a civil society group, we are dedicated to helping the governor and his team tackle insecurity, we are ready to provide intelligence for security agents in the state and aid the governor’s dedication for a safe Lagos,” Olokooba assured.
According to the Lagos Government, the drone technology will provide real-time aerial visuals of crime hotspots, feeding data directly into a newly established ICT-based situation room.
The Government stated that the deployment of drone surveillance marked a major milestone in the state’s broader strategy to modernise its security infrastructure and reinforce safety at the grassroots level, adding that over 1,000 new officers have been recruited into the LNSC to expand the presence of local security personnel in communities statewide.