By Emma Njoku
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, said the police authorities are not insensitive to the security challenges on the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway and has ordered immediate restructuring of the security architecture, to stem rising cases of kidnapping on the road.
Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, said the IGP has instructed the Commissioners of Police in charge of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo State Commands to provide adequate deployment of officers and assets, to ensure the protection of lives and property along the expressway.
The IGP gave the charge after he was briefed by the Commissioners of Police in the three states on the security situation on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, after their on-the-spot assessment of the black spots along the road.
Baba emphasised that the police authority was not insensitive to the prevailing security challenges on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, but would rather chart a path towards decimating the security issue and strategically eliminating the threats along the expressway.
The IGP, therefore, pledged adequate operational support, in form of technology-based and tactical operational assets for the commissioners of police in charge of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo, and heads of tactical operational units in the area, to combat the current trend of crimes and criminality on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
He called on well-meaning Nigerians, particularly road users, hunters, community leaders, and other stakeholders who ply the route to constantly expose known criminals who terrorise innocent Nigerians along the route and within adjoining communities to the police and other security agencies for immediate arrest and prosecution.