Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday urged the military must see themselves as partners in progress to the elected government and must be ready to cooperate and contribute their own quota through ensuring members of the military obey the laws of the land aside from fulfilling their constitutionally assigned roles of providing internal and territorial security for the country.
Governor Ambode, represented by his Deputy, Dr Idiat Adebule, spoke when he received members of the Course 24 of the National Defense College, Abuja, who were on a study tour to Lagos.
The Governor enjoined members of the Course to continue to educate the military hierarchy, especially the middle and lower cadre on the need to subject themselves to the laws of the land, saying that the state government is always displeased when members of the armed forces are seen disobeying laws on traffic and environmental sanitation and the state enforcement agencies are sometimes left with no choice than to apprehend such erring officers”.
“The military are our partners, even in a democratic dispensation. They must cooperate with the government at all levels by obeying our laws both traffic and environmental laws, which remains a critical ingredient towards achieving economic prosperity for our people”.
“We don’t like to embarrass anyone, especially the gentlemen officers of our military but we must continue to educate ourselves as there are some few bad eggs who still go about disobeying our traffic laws and laws on environmental sanitation. While we remain resolute on running a government with a human face, we want to enjoin our military men to always obey the laws and subject themselves to the laws of the state”, the Governor said.
Earlier, the team leader, Brigadier General Mashe Bashir said members of the Course 24 were in Lagos on a study tour in line with the theme of the National Defense College Course 24, titled is “Internally Generated Revenues, Catalyst For Development- Challenges and Prospects”.
Bashir noted that the enviable strides Lagos State has recorded in shoring up its revenue over the years makes it a ready case study for the Course participants, adding that members have met with various government officials, agencies and officials at some local government and local council development areas.
According to him, one of the objectives of the tour was to expose the participants to the socio-economic realities of the state with a view to carrying out research on topical issues, identifying the challenges and preferring solution that can help the country to move forward.
He said members of the team have been enriched by study tour, as they have first hand information on the efforts of the state government at increasing its internally generated revenue in order to meet its developmental challenges and deliver good governance to its people.
The study tour of the participants took them to the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Cabinet Office, Surulere, Kosofe and Ikeja local government areas of the state.