Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday said plans have been concluded to pull down illegal structures sited along pipelines within Ijegun community in Alimosho Local Government and other parts of the state.
The governor said this while briefing pressmen after the monthly security meeting held at the State House, Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja and was attended by security chiefs in the state.
Sanwo-Olu said the step became necessary as security reports had shown that the structures had continued to aid vandals in destruction of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline within the state.
According to him, the plan was concluded after several investigations to uncover reasons for the upsurge in pipeline vandalism in the state, assuring that the state government would work with all security agencies, including Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to remove the structures.
“During the meeting, we discussed the incident around pipeline vandalism which brought us down last month. We have resolved among ourselves that we will stop at nothing, including engaging the communities where these facilities are to give our people assurance.
“And part of the things that will happen is that it will be unlikely that some property will have to be removed in some locations because we have done aeriel surveillance and we discovered that some property were used for bunkering and as a storehouse for jerry cans.
“The government is coming to remove those structures and destroy those facilities. In their own interest, they should start removing them before we come.
“We have mapped out the layout of the places where the property are. And we have decided to collaborate with NSCDC and NNPC to achieve the desired goal,” the governor said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, while assuring residents that patrol within the state would be intensified, disclosed that a 24-hour patrol on waterways would be intensified to sustain the anti-kidnapping achievements recorded in Lagos.
“I want to assure residents that all the security agencies are geared up to ensure that the security of life and property is maintained,” the governor assured.
He hinted that the waterways, which sources said could serve as a link to truncate the improvement recorded in security, would be patrolled effectively to prevent kidnapping.
“We are seeing incident of people, who we did not expect, coming into the state around the waterways. We are ready for them. Everything that need to be done has been put in place. All the logistics that the security agencies will require have been put in place to address the issue,” he further assured.