Lagos to increase police surveillance around schools | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
5th April 2021
Lagos to increase surveillance around schools
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has disclosed that plans are being concluded to double security surveillance around schools across the state to forestall kidnapping of schoolchildren.
He added that more preventive strategies are being devised to ensure adequate protection of schools and their communities for safe learning environment.
The police boss said that the incessant kidnapping in the country has stimulated the Lagos state police command to assess the general security of schools in the state with a view to taking hands-on measures on their safety.
The police commissioner stated this while talking about security and safety in boarding schools in the state during a stakeholders meeting involving Lagos State Ministry of Education and the Office of Education Quality Assurance.
He added that the effort of the state police command towards the safety of schools especially those located in the remote areas of the state cannot be overemphasized.
The police boss listed steps taken by the command to include identification of schools, threat analysis, intelligence gathering, multi-agency collaboration, community policing and deployment of adequate police personnel to these schools towards ensuring utmost safety in our schools.
He, however, advised schools to install Close Circuit TV cameras in schools, keep numbers of security personnel handy, introduce stringent access control and establish security tower where possible.
Odumosu added that boarding schools must also keep a daily head count at night and morning while noting that students should not divulge personal information to strangers and endeavour to move in groups in and out of the school premises.
Meanwhile, the state’s Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, in her address noted that the strategic meeting became imperative following prevailing security challenges in the country.
She added that the meeting had been convened particularly to ensure that students in boarding facilities across the state are safe and secure.
The commissioner urged students not to accept gifts or engage in any form of conversation with strangers while admonishing parents to follow all security protocols put in place by schools especially in schools with boarding facilities.
According to her, security instruction and tips concerning children should be topmost on the mind of every parent or guardian.
She said that the state government would not relent on its oars of ensuring top notch security in both private and public schools in the state while urging the general public to support the government in every way possible.
The Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, said that the Lagos State Government would continue to put in place adequate measures to nip the menace of insecurity in schools in the bud.