The Lagos State Security Trust Fund, LSSTF is seeking stronger collaboration with the United Kingdom on security training, technical support, equipment and preventive interventions as part of efforts to strengthen Lagos State’s security architecture.
The move followed a courtesy visit by the Executive Secretary/CEO of LSSTF, Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan, to the British High Commission in Lagos, where he led a delegation of the Fund to meet with the Deputy Head of Mission and Chief Operating Officer, Simon Field.
The engagement also brought together the British High Commission’s Regional Director, Anglo-West Africa, Mark Smithson, and Home Office Programme Manager, Anne Yakubu.
Ogunsan said the proposed partnership was aimed at bringing international expertise and resources into Lagos’ evolving security system, particularly through specialised training, retraining, equipment and technical support for security personnel.
He explained that the LSSTF was established in 2007 as a public-private partnership to address security challenges in Lagos at a time when government resources alone were insufficient to provide security agencies with the required training, logistics and equipment.
According to him, the Fund has, over the past 19 years, developed an intervention model that mobilises voluntary contributions from the private sector, individuals and the state government to support security agencies.
“We run a very small office but do big things. We don’t take money from people, and then begin to spend it lavishly and waste those resources,” Ogunsan said, stressing the Fund’s emphasis on prudence and accountability.
He noted that LSSTF’s interventions extend across multiple security agencies, including the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and Nigerian Correctional Service.
“As long as you are a security agency and you are on this soil, we take responsibility. We support them financially. We give them infrastructure. We provide the equipment they need. We kit them up,” he said.
Ogunsan urged the British High Commission to support Lagos through vehicles, equipment and specialised training, including a “train-the-trainer” programme that would enable selected Nigerian security personnel to acquire advanced skills and subsequently train other officers.
He also called on British companies operating in Nigeria to consider supporting the Fund’s security intervention programmes.
Beyond conventional security interventions, Ogunsan highlighted the Fund’s Campaign Against Crime, Cultism and Other Vices (LSSTF-CACCOV), which focuses on preventive security by engaging young people and communities vulnerable to criminal influences, including cultism, drug abuse and internet-related crimes.
He said stronger international partnerships would help expand such preventive initiatives while improving the capacity of security agencies to respond to emerging threats.
Responding, Field expressed appreciation for the visit and indicated the British High Commission’s willingness to explore areas of mutual interest with the Fund.
Yakubu also expressed interest in supporting LSSTF’s preventive security initiatives, particularly programmes targeting young people and communities vulnerable to crime.