A retired commissioner of police, Fatai Owoseni, who is the Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has said the collaboration between Oyo and Ogun States towards checking insecurity on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been yielding positive results.
He made this known when he briefed newsmen on the outcome of a stakeholders’ security meeting held at the Oyo State Security Trust Fund Office, Onireke, Ibadan.
Cases of kidnapping rose on the highway within the past two weeks, which focused attention of people to the insecurity on the important road that connects three states of Oyo, Ogun and Lagos. Government officials from Oyo and Ogun states have also met independently and together on some occasions within this month in order to identify the gaps that the kidnappers have been leveraging on to carry out nefarious activities on the road.
According to Owoseni, the vigilantes and other non-state actors will work with regular security agencies towards arresting perpetrators of heinous crimes along the expressway. He noted that the governments of the two states have strengthened the security architecture on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Owoseni said: “Sadly, we have had three incidents in one week cutting across, that made it to look as if the security agents are sleeping on their obligations but I must correct that impression. Before then, it was not as if measures and strategies were not put in place to curb any incident. The perception and the interpretation that has been given is that your community is insecure but it is not possible to have a totally crime-free society.
“Concerning the incidents we recorded about two weeks ago, a whole lot has been put in place by the government to ensure that we give safety to commuters, not just on the express road but the road that leads to Lagos and Abeokuta and some other parts of Oyo State.
“And that also was the reason why the governors of Ogun and Oyo States met to form Joint Security Committee. So, in essence, with what has happened, the interpretation of security will be that there must have been a gap.
“The criminal elements who are on the other side believe it is their profession and would probably must have noticed a gap that they can capitalise on, which would translate to what I can call ‘opportunistic crime. Having said that, we have looked back to see where we got it wrong and looked at the lesson. And that also explains why, for the past one week, jointly with Ogun State security team, we have formed a Technical Working Group. We have been sitting together to see what we can do to remain proactive.
“We have also looked at how we can optimise the use of the traditional institutions, the Baales in our areas, including those that do business in the communities. How much of relationship do they have with the traditional rulers in the said areas. Are they doing the necessary Corporate Social Responsibilities CSR? All these things matter.”
