Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to support the state’s security architecture through increased funding of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF).

Mr Sanwo-Olu made the appeal on Friday at a private breakfast meeting with some managing directors and chief executive officers. The event was organised by the LSSTF at Ikoyi to raise funds for critical security needs for 2026.

He said the state required sustained investments in security equipment, training, and infrastructure to safeguard lives and property in Africa’s most populous city.

According to the governor, the identified needs include multipurpose security helicopters and drones, armoured personnel carriers, water cannons, tactical training, digital communication equipment, smart closed-circuit television (CCTV), patrol vehicles and an ultra-modern mechanical workshop.

“On a year-on-year basis, the Lagos State government has never taken a back seat on its responsibility. We still fund well over 50 per cent of whatever it is that happens, year-on-year,” Mr Sanwo-Olu said.

He said the LSSTF model was designed to earn the private sector’s trust through transparency and accountability in the deployment of funds.

“We wanted it to be something the private sector can trust, where they can see that their support is judiciously used.

“There is accountability, and the funds are transparently deployed at all times,” he said.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said the success of the LSSTF had attracted national and international attention, noting that other sub-national governments had adopted or were attempting to replicate the Lagos model.

The governor disclosed that the state was rebuilding its Command and Control Centre with state-of-the-art equipment and expanding its Safe City initiative by installing more CCTV cameras.

“We thought we would be able to do between 5,000 and 10,000 cameras initially, but we have not gone far enough. We want to scale it up to ensure Lagos remains secure,” he said.

Following recent protests over demolitions in parts of Makoko, Mr Sanwo-Olu said the government’s action was taken in the public interest, particularly to prevent loss of lives.

“I have been accused of destroying Makoko, but the reality is that the shanties were moving dangerously close to the Third Mainland Bridge with high-tension power lines underneath.

“I am not going to sit down and wait for something to drop off and, in one day, lose between 100 and 500 lives. What we did was to push them back for safety reasons.

“I want people to be assured that we are not about taking anything away from anybody. We are simply trying to make life better and safer for our people,” he said.

Mr Sanwo-Olu also announced plans to inaugurate junior and senior secondary schools in the Tolu community of Ajegunle in February. He said the schools would have the capacity for 22,000 students.

He recalled how his administration resolved the long-standing Okobaba sawmill challenge by relocating it to Agbowa, where over 500 housing units were built for affected families.

“In all that we are doing, we still need to keep our people safe and create an environment where investment will continue to thrive,” Mr Sanwo-Olu said.

He said strengthening security was critical to sustaining investor confidence and securing Lagos State’s future.

(NAN)