Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has described Nigerians as very difficult people to please just as he says insecurity remains the greatest challenge confronting the nation.
Fashola spoke on Monday at the St Saviour’s Anglican Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Marina, Lagos, southwest Nigeria during the church’s 32nd Synod.
He lamented that people complained too much instead of helping the government to solve the problems at hand.
“Nigerians are very difficult people to please. When Nigerians were complaining of incessant harassment by policemen at checkpoints, they were dismantled by the Inspector General of Police. The same Nigerians are now complaining that the absence of the checkpoints have aided the free operation of criminals on the roads.
“The same scenario is playing out on the issue of ban by the police of the indiscriminate use of tinted glasses by motorist, which has been taken advantage of by criminals. The people are now accusing the police of being highhanded on the issue,” he said.
Fashola added that insecurity in the nation is becoming a huge mountain to climb, adding that “our greatest challenge today is insecurity. Just a few minutes ago, there were reports of people who have been killed in Taraba State and over the weekend some people died in Bayelsa State.
“In the last week, the number of lives that have been lost to violence and insecurity must bring any serious people into a sense of sobriety and a very serious question about what direction our country is heading,” the Governor said.
He urged the people not to engage in the wholesale condemnation of the security agencies in the light of what is going on in the country, stressing that the issues of whether they had been given the tools needed for their job and whether the society really cared for them should agitate the minds of the people.
“How many of us on Christmas or Ileya festivals have remembered the police station near us by giving the officers a cooler of rice? It may not fill them but such gesture would remain evergreen for them. It will give them commitment to go and protect us.
“Let us show some concern. Let us find our humanity back. We are too detached from the reality of our society. A lot of care and love would bring down the anger and hate that is seeping through our land. It should not be the survival of the fittest anymore but the survival of the greatest majority. It should be a case of everyone pulling up the next person so that we can march forward together as a people who truly fear God,” he stated.
He also urged the people to resist the urge to hold a telephone line that is not registered in their name and charged the phone companies to help the government by not issuing SIM cards without identity and background checks, saying the possibility of some people owning as many as ten telephone lines without any being registered in their names portends grave dangers.
The governor emphasized that Nigerians must love their country and treat it as a home and cited the example of the major breakthrough recorded by Nigerian Police Force recently at Badiya in Lagos which prevented a major crime from being committed, adding that instead of commendations, the general outcry was that Lagos was under a siege.
He said when a similar scenario played out in Boston in the United States, the crime could not be nipped in the bud but took place and that if the two scenarios were placed side by side and given the resources and equipment at the disposal of the Nigeria Police compared to its Boston counterpart, he would cast his lot behind the Nigerian Police for a job well done.
Fashola spoke on Monday at the St Saviour’s Anglican Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Marina, Lagos, southwest Nigeria during the church’s 32nd Synod.
He lamented that people complained too much instead of helping the government to solve the problems at hand.
“Nigerians are very difficult people to please. When Nigerians were complaining of incessant harassment by policemen at checkpoints, they were dismantled by the Inspector General of Police. The same Nigerians are now complaining that the absence of the checkpoints have aided the free operation of criminals on the roads.
“The same scenario is playing out on the issue of ban by the police of the indiscriminate use of tinted glasses by motorist, which has been taken advantage of by criminals. The people are now accusing the police of being highhanded on the issue,” he said.
Fashola added that insecurity in the nation is becoming a huge mountain to climb, adding that “our greatest challenge today is insecurity. Just a few minutes ago, there were reports of people who have been killed in Taraba State and over the weekend some people died in Bayelsa State.
“In the last week, the number of lives that have been lost to violence and insecurity must bring any serious people into a sense of sobriety and a very serious question about what direction our country is heading,” the Governor said.
He urged the people not to engage in the wholesale condemnation of the security agencies in the light of what is going on in the country, stressing that the issues of whether they had been given the tools needed for their job and whether the society really cared for them should agitate the minds of the people.
“How many of us on Christmas or Ileya festivals have remembered the police station near us by giving the officers a cooler of rice? It may not fill them but such gesture would remain evergreen for them. It will give them commitment to go and protect us.
“Let us show some concern. Let us find our humanity back. We are too detached from the reality of our society. A lot of care and love would bring down the anger and hate that is seeping through our land. It should not be the survival of the fittest anymore but the survival of the greatest majority. It should be a case of everyone pulling up the next person so that we can march forward together as a people who truly fear God,” he stated.
He also urged the people to resist the urge to hold a telephone line that is not registered in their name and charged the phone companies to help the government by not issuing SIM cards without identity and background checks, saying the possibility of some people owning as many as ten telephone lines without any being registered in their names portends grave dangers.
The governor emphasized that Nigerians must love their country and treat it as a home and cited the example of the major breakthrough recorded by Nigerian Police Force recently at Badiya in Lagos which prevented a major crime from being committed, adding that instead of commendations, the general outcry was that Lagos was under a siege.
He said when a similar scenario played out in Boston in the United States, the crime could not be nipped in the bud but took place and that if the two scenarios were placed side by side and given the resources and equipment at the disposal of the Nigeria Police compared to its Boston counterpart, he would cast his lot behind the Nigerian Police for a job well done.
