Indications on Tuesday emerged of plans to launch a special patrol convoy dedicated for a 24-hour surveillance of banks and other financial institutions around riverine areas and creeks in Lagos.
This was disclosed in a four point communique issued at the end of a courtesy visit on the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Mr Imohimi Edgal, by heads of security, Banks and other institutions in Nigeria.
Noting that the security architecture in Lagos was tight, the CP however stated that a special patrol convoy was needed because of the topography of the state .
He said: “Lagos is surrounded by water. We have a lot of creeks, as well as legal and illegal jetties and generally banks that are situated in such areas are more vulnerable. That is why part of our communique at the end of the meeting was to fashion out ways to strengthen security of banks in those areas. In addition we resolved that a letter will be written to Nigerian Communication Commission to review the rank of officers who sign letters of investigation from the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, to An Assistant Superintendent of Police.
“Service providers are hiding under from the fact that they have approvals from the NCC, They don’t honour request for information from the police except such letters are signed by officers of the rank of ACP. This is hampering investigation and there is need to review it. First of all, how many Assistant Commissioners of Police do we have? Banks are all over the place, all across the country, I expect that letters signed by a senior police officer of the rank of ASP and above should be sufficient and honoured so that information is gotten on time to enable investigation to be completed on time before the hoodlums disperse or relocate.”
Speaking, Head of Security and Safety, Union Bank and Chairman of Heads of security, Banks and other Financial Institutions in Nigeria, Col. Sam Agbanusi, who led the delegation, stated that the communique also called for proactive measures with a view to checkmating criminal activities that are inimical to security.
He said: “Since 2018 is a pre-election year, a lot of activities will be on and you cannot rule out the possibility of crime rate increasing. So, we are trying to be proactive and not reactionary to issues.”
We need to put certain modalities in place to forestall such events.
