….Promises to work in synergy with the Media for the good of the people
By Theresa Moses
The new helmsman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Lagos State Command, Commandant Eweka Douglas Okoro, is pleading for infrastructural and logistical support from the Lagos State Government in order to ensure quality and better delivery of security services to the good people of the state.
Eweka made the appeal on Tuesday during a courtesy visit by the executives of the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP).
He said that the history of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps cannot be separated from Lagos as the Corps began in the State as Lagos Civil Defence in 1967, before attaining the full-fledged status of a nationwide paramilitary organisation by the Act of Parliament in 2003 while the Corps became more empowered by the Act of 2007, as amended.
“Permit me to say that as far as Lagos is concerned, we have not been treated well. We are gracious to the state government for giving us this place to stay, but we are like tenants to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). If the owner of the house wants to sell the mortar to pound yam and the tenant wants to buy the morta, where are you going to pound it? The corps is soliciting the state governor to give us a little land (space) so we can build our office. This structure is not up to a Division in any of our states – go to Ondo State Command and other states with well-built structures.
“It’s one of the reasons we went to visit the Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG), Mrs. Folashade Jaji, to let them just give us an ordinary 2,000 square metres. We know land in Lagos is like gold, a cherished ornament. Opposite Elephant house, the car park, we are not saying give us all the space, we are seeking for ordinary 2,000 square metres and we will manage it and build a magnified office for the Command, not a situation where as a tenant we’re managing a small cubicle like this. We are managing this place because we are used to the grassroots citizens; we are neither strangers or foreigners, we didn’t come from America, we live with the people and that’s why we can adapt to this way of life and adjust. All we want is a land, when we get a land you will see a well-built structure; we are ready to build by our organisation, and we don’t even need them (Lagos State government) to build for us, just a piece of land. We have been writing for over two years and I believe that the state government will work on it.”
Expressing his dissatisfaction that due to this state of affairs, Lagos State is not benefiting from the inter-governmental organisation, International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO) in terms of operational equipment due to lack of space to secure them.
His words: “There is what we call an inter-governmental organisation, International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO) in Zurich, Switzerland, where its headquarters are situated. They have been bringing a lot of equipment to other states, including my state, Edo; but we don’t have a space to put it in Lagos and it is painful that where the Corps began from is not benefitting from the equipment coming from overseas. Those are the challenges we are having. But be that as it may, we have well-trained personnel and we are managing ourselves in these offices.”
Commandant Eweka said the state is keying into the new Commandant-General of NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi (PhD) came up with a programme, which is called the 4Rs – Rejig, Revamp, Reposition and Reinvigorate the corps in the protection of lives and property, protection of critical national assets and infrastructure as well as combating oil pipeline vandalism.
“If you want to work, we are ready to work. We are ready to assist in traffic management, assist in the protection of lives and property, protection of critical national assets and infrastructure as well as combating oil pipeline vandalism. We are working on preventing pipeline explosions, we are being proactive, we don’t let vandals get access to the pipelines let alone damage it before we react; and we are preventing it from coming. With the little resource at our disposal, we will continue to excel, because we are working for the State and Federal Government, and we will not relent. If you see us in crisis management, you will see us working excellently well and you will know that we are doing service for humanity. We are ready to complement other security agencies like the Police, which is the leading security agency in Nigeria and we have our internal security mechanism where we are doing our best to assist,” he affirmed.
The new NSCDC Commandant sincerely thanks the Lagos State Government, the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) and the good people of Lagos State for the magnanimous but crucial gesture of two operational vehicles given to the command.
“Thank God you saw the two operational vehicles, colour (blue), type (NISSAN) branded with Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps from the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) in the early hours of Tuesday afternoon to assist in our work, in a bid to continue to combat crime and criminality in the state. In addition, to continue to render quality and better security services to the good people of Lagos State.”
Appreciating the contribution of the media to the corps, Eweka promised to continue to work in synergy with the media for the good of the people to achieve one common goal and success all the way.
“We will continue to catch up with the press and we are not forgetful of what happened in the past, because when you learn from the past you will move on to the present. I hope you remember “my Oga at the top saga” and we want to live above it. We are trying to work with the press, but we don’t believe in press sensitization; we believe your good work will show. That doesn’t mean we will abandon the press, we will keep working, especially the online platforms doing better than the print media.
“My boss at Abuja is telling me they are seeing online publication of what we are doing in Lagos and he’s complimenting our effort. I am even surprised that my uncle and friends abroad called me before I could inform them that I was posted to Lagos, all courtesy of the online media. We cannot and we will not do without the media; and we will continue to work in synergy with you for the good of the people. Please, feel free to call our attention if we have erred, we don’t know it all and we are ready to listen so that the progress of the state will move forward. I appreciate you, we are ready to work with you and I can assure you our goal is your goal and success all the way.”
Speaking on the efforts in place to protect critical national assets and infrastructure like the Dangote Refinery as well as combating oil pipeline vandalism, the commandant noted:
“As far as Dangote Refinery is concerned, we have about 100 staff working with them, because what the man is putting on there is a serious critical structure, if left destroyed, the Federal Government will not have such money to put it back, so we are to protect it. We were more concerned about the infrastructure, but now we have mapped out a new strategy to protect all pipelines leading to the refinery. We realise that if Dangote gets the refinery done with, the issue of petroleum subsidy will come to pass. But some people don’t want that to stop, they want importation to continue and the Federal Government is spending trillions in subsiding fuel. But as soon as the company comes into existence, the issue of fuel importation will become a thing of the past and we will not rest on our own, we will do the needful by protecting lives and oil pipeline vandalism as well.”
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