EKO charter (A Neighbour In-Charge)
So the question is who is your neighbor? Is it the stranger next door who does not know, and must not know when you are in distress? Who does not know you have gone on vacation until one week after you have left? Absolutely not. Your neighbor is the one who takes careful thought to make sure that you are not put in harm’s way by his inaction or action. Your neighbor is the one who takes responsibility for your well being regardless of how far or how different he is from you. That is what Jesus said and that is what the old English lawyers later postulated in the neighborhood principle.
Going by the simple definition above, one can say that Lagosians have a neighbor in government house, Alausa; a neighbor who is in charge. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has within the last two years consistently shown that sitting in the Governor’s office has not made him loose empathy with the working Lagosian on the streets. One recalls the way he summarily put a check to the excesses of LATSMA upon his assumption of office and helped them rediscover their original benevolent uses to road users. And one remembers also how he rid Lagos roads of the unnecessary encumbrance of overzealous VIO operatives. However, the Ambode administration has gone ahead with two laudable and very humane initiatives that show the premium placed by it on the value and quality of Human life.
The first is the rebranding and revamping of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) as an added initiative towards the security of lives and Property. The Corp besides employing close to two thousand people currently has been equipped with vehicles, cars, motorcycles, helmets and other security gadgets all to be deployed towards making our public spaces safer for all Lagos residents. In addition to the functions of the Nigerian Police, the LNSC will provide more detailed community policing which is needed in view of the huge population and urban spread of Lagos state.
The second notable executive neighbourly act of the Ambode administration, amongst others, is the creation of the LASEMA Response Unit (LRU) designed to broaden, equip and reinforce the state’s emergency response framework. With a population of about 20 million, the growing scale of industralisation, and the preponderance of articulated vehicles on our crowded roads, the likelihood of emergencies occurring is relatively high and that is what has informed the administration’s pertinent focus on setting up an adequately equipped, and fast paced emergency response unit to ensure that loss of lives and property is minimized in the event of accidents or disasters.
The LRU is geared up in preparedness to respond to emergencies in line with the commitment to save lives. The level of preparedness is borne out by the huge resources and personnel deployed to ensure safety of lives and property. The administration has procured for the unit, heavy duty rescue equipment such as grove cranes, ambulances, and tow trucks, to accelerate the pace of intervention in emergency situations. The administration has also constructed two major LASEMA rescue centers, one in Oshodi and another in Lekki, with two others under construction at Ikorodu road and Badagry, as accessible dispatch centers from where responders can reach the distress areas in the event of emergencies. There is also a dedicated line, 112, that can be reached twenty four hours a day with a targeted response within a minute.
One demonstration of the value of this unit is the unprecedented rescue of 19 lives from a collapsed building at Illasa in May, 2017; an eloquent and heartwarming testimony of the Ambode administration’s commitment to save and preserve lives and property.