The Lagos State House of As-
sembly has joined other South
West states to sign into law the
bill establishing the Amotekun corps.
The House also recommended that
membership of the corps will be open
to only indigenes, or residents that
have spent 20 years in the area and can
speak the native language.
What this means is that, contrary to
earlier perception that only people of
Yoruba origin can apply for member-
ship, all Nigerians, irrespective of their
place of origin can be co-opted into
the corps so long as they are proficient
in the Yoruba language.
These are some of the recommenda-
tions of Lagos State House of Assem-
bly committee the House adopted on
Monday.
The lawmakers adopted the recom-
mendation of the report on a Bill for a
law to amend Lagos State Neighbour-
hood Safety Corps Law 2019 to estab-
lish the Amotekun Corps.
The House of Assembly Committee
on Information, Strategy and Security
chaired by Mr. Tunde Braimoh, had
held a public hearing last Monday to
get inputs from stakeholders.
Braimoh, while presenting the re-
port, stated that the stakeholders at
the public hearing made some obser-
vations. One of them was the need
to amend the long title of the Bill to
reflect the strategic importance of the
Amotekun in the operation of the
agency.
Another is to create a new section
to cater for the tactical training of the
Corps; and that considerations should
be given to uneducated hunters and
other skilled members of the commu-
nity.
According to him, “the Corps also
should be able to collaborate and co-
operate with security agencies in other
states of the federation; that the law
should prohibit the use or employ-
ment of the Amotekun Corps by any
person or authority for political or
personal use;
“There should be proper designa-
tion and clarification of the Amotekun
symbol, and it is important to provide
for insurance or other compensatory
schemes for the Corps.”
