Lagos State Commissioner of Police Fatai Tijani has urged residents and security agencies to deepen cooperation in combating crime across the state. He emphasized that joint efforts are critical to maintaining peace and tackling rising criminal activities, particularly in high-traffic areas. Speaking at a community engagement event in Ikeja, Tijani noted that intelligence sharing between the public and police has already led to recent arrests and seizure of illegal firearms.
Tijani disclosed that the police recovered 47 guns and made 120 arrests in the last quarter of 2024. He credited the success to tips from community members and inter-agency operations with the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. "The police cannot do it alone," Tijani said. "We need the public's active participation to identify suspects and report suspicious movements."
He also encouraged residents to join existing neighborhood watch programs and reaffirmed the police's commitment to protecting lives and property. The commissioner warned criminals that operations would intensify in the coming months.
Fatai Tijani is acknowledging what Lagosians already know: the police are stretched. With 47 guns recovered in one quarter, the scale of armed criminality is clear, yet the call for public collaboration shifts part of the security burden onto ordinary citizens. This approach may yield short-term arrests, but it does little to address systemic weaknesses in policing. For Lagos residents, safety increasingly depends not on state capacity but on how much vigilance they can personally provide.
