Fashola Lauds Zain Nigeria for Boosting Security in Lagos
Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola has commended Zain Nigeria for supporting the government and other relevant state security agencies in their quest to provide adequate security services to the people of Lagos state.
Fashola, who spoke today at the State House when officials of the leading mobile telecommunications company paid him a courtesy visit, lauded the management of Zain for providing a strong telecommunications platform to support the State’s Emergency Call Centre, a digitalized helpline that captures security issues and emergency reports emerging from across the state.
Particularly, the Governor thanked the GSM Operator for increasing the capacity of the emergency helpline, saying that the initiative has gone a long way in saving many lives as well as resolving quite a few security issues.
While commending the Telco, Fashola also gave kudos to the Nigeria’s telecoms sector for demonstrating that private capital, resources and skills can go a long way to propel and boost a nation’s economy.
“Just about eight years ago, we had 450,000 telephone lines, but right now, the growth of the telecoms industry is unbelievable as we have close to 70 million lines. I believe that if we channel the template and drive of the telecoms sub-sector in Nigeria to other sectors of the economy, we will achieve so much,” said Fashola.
He also appealed to telecommunications companies in Nigeria to further help the government crime prevention initiatives by supporting the government’s SIM Card registration exercise, stating that the initiative will go a long way to “allow the telephone maintain its role as a tool of convenience and not a tool for crime.”
Earlier at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of Zain Nigeria, Alain Sainte-Marie commended the State Governor for creating an enabling environment for business to thrive in the state, adding that the support of the state government has helped Zain to achieve several of its business objectives.
He also restated Zain’s commitment to assist the state government in the area of security, saying that the company has recently expanded the capacity of the state’s emergency call centre to accommodate more than four and a half million distress calls monthly.
The visit had in attendance management officials of both Zain Nigeria and Lagos State, including Director, Regulatory Affairs, Zain Nigeria, Osondu Nwokoro; Regional Sales Manager, (Lagos Region), Zain Nigeria, Akintunde Giwa; Head, PR and CSR, Zain Nigeria, Emeka Oparah; Lagos State Special Adviser on Transport, Kayode Opeifa; Lagos State Senior Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Babatunde Williams, and Lagos State Special Assistant on Courtesy Calls, Babajide Akinsanya.