S/West Ministers Want FG To Investigate Military Involvement At Lekki Toll Gate

The federal government has been tasked to initiate a thorough investigation of the events that occurred at the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos State on October 20, 2020, particularly the alleged involvement of armed military men.

This was part of the recommendations made by federal cabinet ministers from the Southwest geopolitical region after an assessment tour of the wrecks inflicted in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests and its attending violence.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of Wednesday, October 21, had ordered all ministers to return to their home states and be part of the efforts at restoring calm and order, following the widespread violence that followed the #EndSARS protest.

However, giving a feedback on the intervention activities of Southwest ministers, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fasola (SAN), who presented the report and recommendations by his colleagues, said it was the shared view of his colleagues, as well as the governors, that the involvement of the federal government in the investigation and making findings public would help to give victims the needed closure.

Besides the advice to thoroughly investigate the alleged involvement of the military in the Lekki Toll Plaza incident, he said they also recommended that the federal should make it a duty to give relief to those who lost livelihoods and valuables to the arson, looting and other forms of vandalisation that trailed the events.

The ministers also recommended aggressive reorientation of Nigerians, especially through the mass media as well as through the introduction of teaching of cultural values, etiquettes and other societal inculcation, going through formal educational institutions.

They went further to recommend the adoption of templates that would help in creating more jobs, making reference to an earlier resolution of the FEC; Maintenance of Facility Management Policy, which they said would help both the federal and state governments to create immediate employment for various categories of labour.

“We also urged that federal government should undertake a thorough investigation into what happened at the Lekki Toll Plaza, particularly the role of the military and ensure that the outcome is made public with a view to achieving closure on the matter.

“We recommended that the federal government re-mobilize critical organs and agencies such as National Orientation Agency and formal educational institutions to focus on ethical re-orientation, inculcation of family values into the school curriculum.

“We recommended focus on etiquette, local reasoning, critical thinking, solution seeking, empathy, self respect, civic duty and human rights.

“We also recommended the Federal Government to actively seek and support the process of justice for all by ensuring that any of those apprehended and identified to be involved in the perpetration of this carnage be speedily brought to justice and fairly tried.

“We also urged the federal government to implement the Maintenance of Facility Management Policy approved by FEC in 2019 for federal ministries, department and agencies and to encourage states to do the same. We do this because we see this as a usual vehicle to help absorb and create immediate employment of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled Labour, in order to address huge unemployment and poverty related part of the problem.

“This is important because people have skills but we need to provide the economic environment in which those skills can become income earning and self rewarding.

“We urged government to also restore confidence in the police and their morale among the officers of men and women and to improve their welfare, whiles tracking the ongoing reforms being undertaken in the police force.

“We also urged the Federal Government to consider, through the Federal Ministry of Health, issues of substance abuse amongst the populace and propose solutions because, this potentially affects mental health.

“We made this recommendation mindful of the global opium and substance abuse crisis and the impact on our country as well. We think this is a matter that requires some attention and focus,” he said.

He said further that the ministers deemed it necessary to call for support of the efforts of the Lagos State government as well as the various arms affected, citing the need to intervene in the situation of the judicial sector, as well as security units that had list facilities as well as personnel to the events.

“The highlight of the brief was to make recommendations to the federal government to support Lagos State to restore damaged facilities, especially those related to the maintenance of law and order and the administration of justice such as police, court buildings and forensic laboratory.

“To also consider supporting the Lagos High Court Judges either with the provision of some office accommodation as a temporary relocation when that requested is made, of course it was hinted during the visit.

“To also urge federal government to consider short to medium term support to small and medium businesses who were affected by the looting and arson which took place in Lagos and other parts of the country, to see if something can be done through the Central Bank Intervention Mechanism under the COVID-19 funding or any other related funding mechanism.

“To also ensure that whatever is approved should also involve the National Economic Council, the platform on which state governors meet, so that other states across the country, which were also affected, businesses that were damaged can benefit in addition to Lagos residence who may so be supported,” he said.

According to him, the findings of the ministers, who first met with governors of the region were that major damages were inflicted in different parts of the Southwest, however, what happened to Lagos was larger in scale.

“So, I just briefed council about the reports that were presented to us by the Lagos state government when we visited.

“The summary is that about 15 police stations were lost, commercial undertakings especially the ones in Lekki and many other parts in Surulere were damaged, some schools were also damaged, private properties were also damaged and public buildings like the city hall, the Lagos High Court, Lagos Forensic Laboratory and DNA Center, the Nigeria Ports Authority were also damaged.

“The palace of the Oba of Lagos and many others. So we presented the documentary evidence presented to us by the Government of Lagos State which was shown to Council.

“Then we visited a few palaces – the Lagos High Court led by the governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, we visited NPA, forensic lab and the Lekki Toll Plaza as well and as you all know, we found some items which we handed over to the state government at the site.

“These were the highlights of the report that we presented. The Minister of Youths and Sports also visited the Lagos Island Hospital to empathize with seven persons who were reported to have sustained various degree of injuries in the ward and emergency unit. He also visited media houses to commiserate with them in the destruction of property,” he said.

– The Nation