Strengthening Multimodal Safety in Lagos: LSSTF ES/CEO, Ogunsan Visits NRC MD, Opeifa • Donates Patrol Vehicles to Railway Police, NSCDC Commands
By Oki O. Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
Rail transportation occupies a unique place in Nigeria’s history, not merely as a means of moving people and goods, but as one of the earliest modern infrastructures around which economic and territorial connectivity was built. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) traces the beginning of Nigeria’s railway business to the construction of the 193-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan line between 1898 and 1901, making the railway system the oldest modern form of transportation in the country. More than a century later, the railway remains a critical component of Nigeria’s transportation and economic architecture, with the Lagos District serving as a major hub for passenger and freight operations.
But as railway infrastructure expands and more Nigerians return to the rails, the question of security becomes inseparable from the question of transportation itself. Tracks, stations, rolling stock, bridges, communication systems and other railway assets require protection from kidnapping, vandalism, criminal activity and other threats. For the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) under the leadership of the Executive Secretary/CEO, Dr. Ayodele Ogunsan this makes the railway corridor an important frontier in its broader security intervention strategy.
The Fund’s engagement with the Nigeria Railway Corporation is therefore not simply another equipment donation; it represents an effort to build a security partnership around an increasingly important transportation ecosystem.
That philosophy was demonstrated when the Executive Secretary/CEO of the LSSTF, Dr. Ogunsan, paid a courtesy visit to the Managing Director, NRC, Dr. Kayode Opeifa at the headquarters in Ebute-Metta, Lagos, toured its facilities and presented two operational vehicles, one each to the Nigeria Police Railway Command and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Railway Command. The intervention effectively extends the LSSTF’s security-support footprint across the four major transportation domains: road safety management, waterways, aerial surveillance and now rail transportation. It also reinforces the Fund’s long-standing position that security is strongest when government agencies, communities, infrastructure managers and other stakeholders work as partners rather than isolated institutions.
Speaking during the visit, Ogunsan said his connection with NRC Managing Director, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, dated back to Opeifa’s days in the Lagos State Government, when he served in key transportation responsibilities. “When this idea came that we must secure our railway, immediately I connected with him, because the bond between security and transportation is very key,” Ogunsan said.
He explained that the LSSTF’s security interventions had deliberately evolved beyond a single mode of transportation. “We’ve eyes in air transport, waterways, and here we are talking about land and then we talk about rail,” he said, stressing that the Fund had continued to support security operations in the air through surveillance and collaboration with the Police Air Wing, while also contributing to security on the waterways and land.
“Now we are telling Lagosians, especially the users of our rail, that Lagos State Security Trust Fund is also putting searchlight on the railway. We want to make sure that everybody who uses all our railway stations believes that the place, that space, is also very safe. And we are going to pay more attention to it,” he declared.
The LSSTF CEO described the two vehicles as a response to that commitment, urging the Police and NSCDC to use them strictly for patrol and operational purposes. “Please, take ownership of these assets. These assets are very expensive,” Ogunsan said. “This vehicle is not an official vehicle. It is meant for patrol. And if you use it for that reason, then we’ll be encouraged to do more.”
He disclosed that the Fund has a monitoring mechanism to track the use of vehicles and other assets donated to security agencies, noting that responsible management of such interventions would encourage further support. “When we came into office, we came up with the Lagos State Security Trust Fund Monitoring Unit. That monitoring department goes all around to tell us the usage of our vehicles. The moment they give us a positive response or report, we add more to your assets,” he said.
Ogunsan also used the occasion to remind stakeholders that the LSSTF is donor-funded and depends substantially on voluntary contributions from individuals, businesses, corporate organisations and government interventions. “Everything we do at the Lagos State Security Trust Fund is through your voluntary donation as individual, as entrepreneur, private sector, and sometimes the government of the State,” he explained, urging the railway community and corporate stakeholders to support the Fund.
Responding, NRC Managing Director, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, expressed appreciation to the LSSTF and Dr. Ogunsan, noting that the donation was not the first intervention by the Fund. “They have done this kind of donation before. This is about the second or third time, and they have been doing it consistently,” Opeifa said.
He thanked Executive Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for supporting the railway community, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, roads, street lighting and drainage. He disclosed that Gov. Sanwo-Olu had facilitated a major storm-water drainage project around the railway compound, which he said had helped address flooding challenges.
Opeifa appealed to other state governments that are host communities to Nigeria’s vast railway network to develop similar partnerships with the NRC. “We want you, the government, to also support us. I also want to mention the Governor of Abia has promised to do wonderful things for the communities in Abia and Umuahia. The Governor of Enugu has also promised to support our security system and hospitals,” he said. He described the Lagos-NRC relationship as an example of what collaboration could achieve, stressing that the railway represents not only a transportation system but also communities spread across the country.
The NRC chief further encouraged individuals and corporate organisations to contribute to the LSSTF, noting that the Fund’s intervention directly strengthens the operational capacity of security personnel.
On the operational impact of the vehicles, representative of the Commandant, Railway Police Command, DCP Yahaya Mana, DC Operations, Nigeria Police Railway Command said the intervention would strengthen patrol operations. “I want to say thank you to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund and the NRC MD. If not for him, we wouldn’t have seen something of such. But we appreciate him for doing this, and I believe this is just the beginning of it. More and more are coming through our MD,” he said.
Representative of the NSCDC Nigeria Railway Command, ACC Ademola Adetola, said “this is the start of a new era of safety. I thank you for the special place you have given us” as he expressed appreciation for the intervention, describing the vehicles as a boost to operational effectiveness and a new phase in railway safety.
The visit assumed an additional dimension when Dr. Ogunsan was taken on a special ride in a Mercedes-Benz vehicle capable of travelling both on conventional roads and railway tracks. Fitted with conventional road tyres as well as metallic railway wheels, the vehicle offered the LSSTF CEO, Ogunsan, an unusual firsthand experience of railway mobility. Clearly impressed by the experience, Ogunsan described it as something he had never encountered before. “What I’ve never experienced before in my life, I experienced this here,” he said. “I didn’t come here by road. I came here by rail. But there’s something about that trip that I’m still trying to fathom.”
The visit also brought together DPO Denton Police Division, CSP Solomon Komolafe, railway labour and heritage stakeholders, including National Union of Railway Workers representatives and President of Legacy 1995, Mr. Tayo Olaniyi, who manages the Railway Museum at the historic Jaekel House. Olaniyi commended the initiative and linked security to the preservation of Nigeria’s railway heritage, warning that vandalisation threatens not only infrastructure but also the country’s historical inheritance. “Security is very important. It cannot be left with only the politicians and police,” he said, urging the railway community to cooperate with security agencies and other stakeholders.
The intervention thus goes beyond the presentation of two vehicles. It signals a deliberate attempt to place security at the centre of Lagos’ evolving transportation architecture, recognising that a modern rail system cannot deliver its full economic and social promise unless passengers, infrastructure and personnel can operate within a secure environment. The message from Ebute-Metta is unmistakable. The security of Lagos does not stop where the road ends. It must travel with the people across the waterways, through the air, along the roads and, increasingly, on the rails.
