Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun, Executive Secretary of the LSSTF, disclosed that fully equipping a police officer costs three million naira (3,000,000).

He stated this during the Governor’s 15th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security.

The event, held on Victoria Island, with the topic “Reconceptualising Safety and Security in Lagos State.”

Security services, according to Balogun, require enhanced training, more equipment to assist an intelligence-led approach to crime prevention (drones, trackers, scanners at city entrances, gunshot detection systems), and more non-lethal armament.

”To fully kit one policeman with uniform, taser, tactical gear (light, knife, jacket, belt, gloves, knee, shoulder, ankle, and boots) bulletproof vest, ballistic helmet, tear gas, push-to-talk on cellular communication equipment, rain gear, etc, will cost at least N3 million per officer.⁣

”Hence to kit 33,000 police officers in Lagos will cost about N99 billion. This is our reality, if we truly want a highly motivated, and fully equipped police force in the state.⁣

”Truth be told, the needs of security agencies are endless, as they are expected to be prepared for every single possible crime scenario.⁣

”Often, most people do not see how simple solutions to a problem such as providing sniffer dogs creates a whole new expenditure matrix such as housing, feeding, training health care and even providing special protection details for the dogs from drug batons who would seek to kill them.⁣

”Keeping these dogs alone is a very expensive endeavour but the K-9 unit is not too advanced to be included in our security architecture in the state,” he said.⁣
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Balogun said that insecurity is spreading from the north to the south and there is the need to be ready, and to build on the capacity to deal with future challenges.