From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
As you approach most of the police barracks across the country, what constantly stares you in the face is the unhygienic nature of the environment with heaps of refuse, stench from either broken soak away pipes or rooms infested with bats among others.
Worst still is the dilapidated nature of residential buildings within the barracks as well as vandalized public utilities such as water tanks, boreholes, electric poles to mention but a few. This is even more disheartening as many Nigerians see the police barracks as the worst in terms of cleanliness among all the military and para-military barracks in the country.
It was for this reason that the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA), under the leadership of the wife of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mrs. Asmau Ibrahim, set out in December to flag off the barracks sanitation program.
As a way of keying into the program and keep police barracks clean always, the Benue State chapter of POWA recently donated waste baskets, brooms and rakes to flag off its Barracks Sanitation Program.
State chairperson of POWA and wife of the Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Shepme Makama, noted that the gesture became necessary following the deteriorating and unhygienic condition of police barracks all over the country. She recalled that in the past, barracks sanitation in police barracks was a regular exercise:
“From today, inspection is going to be carried our weekly and monthly and any barracks that is found wanting would be sanctioned. The living condition in police barracks is becoming a thing of concern. And we all know that in the country today, there are a lot of diseases on the basis of the climate change, hence the need to keep the barracks clean to our rooms.
“The condition in the barracks has deteriorated over time. In the past, barracks sanitation was a regular exercise but these days it is no longer like that. The worst barracks among all the military and para military is the police barracks and this we want to change.
“Despite the fact that maintenance had been a major problem, that should not stop the women in keeping the environment clean. You don’t need much to keep the environment clean. It is in view of this that the IGP’s wife flagged off the program in December last year and we are only replicating it here.
The state POWA boss who lamented that some women are naturally dirty enjoined such women to change their ways and strive to be clean so that their husbands can always look forward to coming back to a clean home and environment:
“Our husbands are going through hard times trying to tackle security issues and need to come back to a clean environment. Dirty environment could be responsible for why many husbands come home late. Let us try in our own little way to keep our environment clean. It doesn’t take much but our determination to keep the environment clean counts much.”
Speaking on behalf of the barracks women, Mrs. Blessing Obaka listed the dilapidated nature of the residential buildings, roof leakages, cracked walls, erosion within the barracks as well as the porousness of police barracks as some of the problems they were currently facing:
“Our housing condition is bad with leakages in the roof such that we have to position buckets in our rooms and kitchen to collect water during raining season. Erosion has also eaten most part of police barracks. We also have the problem of water supply.”
“Our barracks are also not fenced thus exposing police wives and children to danger such that criminals who commit nefarious acts in town can easily have access to the barracks.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Works (AC Works), DSP Gambo Murtala, noted that his office had been trying its best within the limited resources available. He disclosed that he received a signal recently from the Force Headquarters that all erosion spots within the barracks be snapped and sent, adding that he had acted accordingly and awaiting response.
He, however, regretted the constant vandalism of public utilities within the barracks by barracks children even as he urged parents to always educate their children and wards on the need to protect and not vandalize such facilities that have been installed for their use.
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bashir Makama, represented by DCP A A Mohammed, said: “We must be able to keep our barracks clean. Unfortunately, the police barracks is nothing to write home about. The onus now rests on us to ensure that our barracks are kept clean at all times. The barracks in Benue is very clean compared to police barracks in some states.”
He lamented that what normally gets to the state from the police budget is so small that it cannot do anything tangible stressing that most times, he had to resort to taking care of the barracks personally.