Security
By Adeyemi Adeleye
Lagos, Dec. 12, 2025 (NAN) In a significant political endorsement, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared the state’s security architecture the definitive benchmark for sub-national security frameworks across Nigeria. This assertion follows two decades of sustained development, positioning Lagos’s model as a rare example of long-term, multi-administration policy continuity in a region often plagued by security volatility.
In a detailed statement issued in Lagos, the party’s spokesman, Mr. Seye Oladejo, argued that the state’s relative peace and stability are not accidental. They are the direct result of “sustained planning, political will, and collaboration”—a trifecta often cited in security studies but rarely executed with consistency. Lagos, as Nigeria’s commercial nerve center and most densely populated state, presents a uniquely complex security environment, making its achievements particularly noteworthy.
Oladejo traced the model’s genesis to the tenure of former Governor Bola Tinubu, now President, and its evolution through successive administrations to the current governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. “Lagos stands today as the gold standard of what purposeful leadership can achieve,” he stated. “From Tinubu to Sanwo-Olu, we have seen security treated not as rhetoric but as deliberate and sustained action.” This continuity is a critical, often overlooked component, allowing for strategic plans to mature beyond short-term political cycles.
Pillars of the Lagos Security Architecture
1. The Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF): Oladejo highlighted the LSSTF as the cornerstone of the model and “the country’s most effective public-private funding model for security.” Established in 2007, the LSSTF institutionalizes corporate and private sector contributions, providing a predictable funding stream outside volatile government budgets. This has enabled the procurement of patrol vehicles, communication gadgets, and surveillance resources, directly addressing the chronic under-equipment of federal security agencies deployed in the state. The fund’s success demonstrates how sub-national entities can creatively supplement federal resources to meet local needs.
2. Technology-Driven Policing and Integration: The Sanwo-Olu administration has aggressively layered technology onto the existing framework. This includes an expanding network of surveillance cameras, crime-mapping tools, and smart-city monitoring systems. These tools move policing from a reactive to a predictive and intelligence-led posture. Furthermore, the integration of traditional rulers, community development associations, and civil society groups has created a robust grassroots intelligence network. “The community has become a full partner in maintaining vigilance,” Oladejo noted, emphasizing the shift from a state-centric to a society-wide security approach.
3. Coordinated Multi-Agency Response: A key failure in many security systems is inter-agency rivalry and operational overlap. Lagos has worked to forge strong coordination between the Nigeria Police, the armed forces, intelligence units, and state-owned agencies like the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Agency (LNSA), the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). This fusion center approach ensures faster, more unified responses to incidents.
4. World-Class Emergency Management: Beyond crime prevention, the model encompasses comprehensive emergency response. The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) was cited as proof that a sub-national government can build a “world-class rapid-response structure” for fires, building collapses, and other disasters—a capability that directly saves lives and protects economic assets.
The State Police Debate and National Implications
Oladejo made a pointed connection between Lagos’s existing structure and the ongoing national debate on state police. “This is why Lagos is fully ready for state police whenever the constitution permits it,” he said. “While some states are still debating structures, Lagos already operates an intelligence-driven framework that can be scaled seamlessly.” This position frames Lagos not just as a model for current security operations, but as a prototype for a future, more decentralized policing system in Nigeria.
He credited the achievements to Tinubu’s foundational long-term planning and Sanwo-Olu’s continuous modernization, while criticizing opposition attempts to “politicise national insecurity.” He concluded by positioning Lagos as a critical reference point for federal-sub-national synergy, urging other states to study and adapt its principles. “Nigeria’s security challenges require coordinated national and local efforts beyond election cycles,” he asserted, highlighting the model’s most potent lesson: security is a marathon, not a sprint, demanding strategy over spectacle and investment over ideology. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
AYO/BHB
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Edited by Buhari Bolaji
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