Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Tuesday said no fewer than 5,000 men and women would be recruited to Neighbourhood Watch – the state grass roots security outfit.
Ambode, who spoke at the ‘2016 3rd Quarter Town Hall Meeting’ of his administration at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, added that the new recruits would earn at least N25,000 monthly, apart from other allowances.
He said the Neighbourhood Safety Agency Bill which he signed into law on August 15, 2016, was part of efforts to institutionalise and deepen community policing in the state.
“There is a law that has just been passed which is the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Law, 2016. We will make sure that this agency is activated and our neighbourhoods are secured. We will provide NW with all the necessary equipment and resources to ensure that we establish what we call community policing and that is the way to go.
“We will rebrand and re-equip the NW to the level that each NW officer in all the local government areas will have their vehicles and necessary equipment to complement security. We are working on employing additional 5,000 NW officers and they will be paid by us, while the basic salary for the entrance level will be N25, 000 per month,” the governor said.
Ambode said the government would begin the disbursement of N25bn Employment Trust Fund (ETF) to beneficiaries by next week.
