Sanwo-Olu Awards Scholarship To Kids Of Slain Police Officers

Police officers killed in the wake of the violence that trailed the #ENDSARS protests will not die in vain, Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has vowed.

He directed Lagos State Scholarship Board to award scholarship to their children up to the university level.

Twenty-nine Divisional Police Stations and 17 Police posts were razed by hoodlums disguising as protesters.

Also, six police officers were lynched, 36 critically injured while 71 police operational vehicles were torched.

Sanwo-Olu made the offer to take the bill of replacing the logistics lost by the police when he visited the Command Headquarters in Ikeja to boost morale of officers.

The Governor said the statutory duties of the Police could not be wished away because of the actions of a few bad eggs, noting the impact of the police officers’ absence on the roads was generally felt by residents.

He said the state must put the event of the past week behind it and move on to restore peace across the communities.

To achieve this, police officers, he said, must regain their confidence.

He said: “Commissioner of Police has come forward with a number of requests, which we will need to address to boost the morale of officers after the last week’s event.

“As your Governor, I have come here to take full responsibility for the loss you have suffered in terms of logistics. From tomorrow (Thursday), we will start implementing these requests.

“Through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), we will be replacing the police operational vehicles burnt in the violence.

“We have bigger plans for all the police stations burnt down. We will look for the funds and build befitting stations that will set the standard of what police stations should be.

“The most important request is to offer scholarship to the children of officers that died. I have directed the Lagos State Scholarship Board under the Special Adviser on Education to immediately award scholarship to the children of the slain officers.”

Sanwo-Olu said his administration would also compensate family members of the officers killed in the violence and foot their funeral bills.

He said Lagos would also pick the hospital bills of those injured in the mayhem.

Police officers serving in Lagos are also to get life insurance, Sanwo-Olu added.

The Governor directed the Executive Secretary of LSSTF, Dr. Rasaq Balogun, to establish the modality with the police leadership in the State.

The Governor also approved the request to upgrade Police Cottage Hospital in Ikeja, directing the Commissioner for Health to inspect the facility for the required upgrade.

In addition to donating two 150KVa generating set to the police, Sanwo-Olu said the Command Headquarters would be connected to the State’s Independent Power Project (IPP) for constant power supply.