Collapse of Police college building as another pointer to neglect

Going by the vast businesses and buzzing commercial activities in Lagos , its reputation and primacy the cardinal driver and the livewire of Nigeria’s economy is in no doubt. However, challenges abound. PATRICK ANDREW reports

Lagos state is also the most developed and perhaps most advanced in virtually every socio-economic cum political activities in the country. It seems though that the ‘centre of excellence’ is also fast becoming infamous for the number of collapsed houses.
Incidences of collapsed dilapidated buildings are almost a daily occurrence and perhaps it ranks only second to the high incidences of armed robbery.
The state like magnet attracts many persons who aspire to earn a living and see in Lagos thriving opportunities which are hardly common in other states.

These influxes of individuals and organisations expectedly task social amenities within the city’s metropolis and its immediate and not so close environs.
In Lagos, many would attest to the difficult of securing a simple accommodation and it is no less equally tasking for state institutions to have proper dwelling places.
The gross lack of suitable accommodation was again brought to the fore on Christmas day when there was yet another ugly incidence of building collapse in Lagos.

As usual, it was a residential building but one that houses federal staff- security operatives- the police. Part of the Police College
Confirmed reports said one of the Police College Ikeja buildings located on High Way Police Barracks opposite Area F, Ikeja, caved in at round 4 am on Sunday while many were preparing to celebrate Xmas festivities.
As usual, it was not without loss of lives as two persons including a serving police officer who was transferred to Lagos barely six months ago and his friend, were the victims of the building collapse.
The staircase of the dilapidated structure collapsed on the victims while they were taking their bath in the early hours of the morning. They victims may have intended to make  a journey to celebrate the day with their families or perhaps had meant to attend early Mass and thus attend to other businesses during the day. None except the deceased could tell.

The police authority identified the police officer simply as Danjuma, who died when about to have his bath around 4.30am when the structure fell.
Ironically, signs of the impending collapse of the structure were very visible, a situation that forced the authority to issue quit notice to the residents of the building.
Some occupants of the now collapsed structure confirmed that the authorities of the barracks had warned the people to vacate the distressed two-storey building, but they were said to have resisted the order on the grounds that they neither had an alternative nor the means to secure another accommodation.
According to report, a resident, Mrs. Jenifa Mattias, said they were plainly ordered to vacate the dilapidated structure but had to defy the order because of lack of means to relocate to another area.
“We have been told to pack out, but we refused to leave because we have nowhere to go. Many of us do not have the means to relocate to another accommodation and of course, everyone knows the situation in the country and the difficulty of securing accommodation in Lagos.”

A neighbour, who is well familiar with the buildings around the place said the Police College Ikeja structures are generally in distasteful shape and very visibly weak.
“These structures are weak. It was obvious something like this was going to happen. The signs are there and if you look around the buildings it is not hard to spot the cracks all around,” he said blaming the state for not providing its officers and personnel suitable accommodation.
A policeman, who lives in a building opposite the collapsed structure, blamed the dilapidation of the buildings in the barracks on the police authorities.
According to him, “Every month, N7,500 is deducted from each policeman’s salary and now, we were told to leave on or before Wednesday. Where do they want us to go? Where is the money they have been deducting from our salaries? They did not renovate the barracks. We have no place to go.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, confirmed the monthly deductions saying it is always deployed to renovate the barracks.
“The funds that are available to the government and the police are used to upgrade the facilities from time to time.
“When an incident like this happens, it calls for us to reassess and test the integrity of the buildings; and from there we move on.
“It is not possible to house every policeman in the barracks. Some policemen have to live within the communities they are.”
It follows then that the Lagos State Police Command was not only in the know of the dilapidated nature of the building but had been making deductions to rehabilitate the structure.

Whatever, the police authority had done that regard has now paled into insignificance because rather than assuaging the problem it tended to have aggravated it.
According to Usman Daudu, the collapsed building only amplified again the decay of police structures all over the country.
“Even in Police Colleges fresh students are made to buy their kits. I was extorted when I was in Kaduna and my colleagues in Kano and even Lagos related same tale and it is not surprising that Police barracks are the worst anywhere in the country,” John who is a police officer said.
A building engineer thinks both the federal and state governments are not serious about catering for the welfare of security operatives especially the police whom he said are the most relegated, neglected and poorly remunerated.

“If the building in question housed ministers, commissioners or even the members of the highest echelon of the government, would the authorities have allowed them to remain in the dilapidated structure?
“No, it simply shows the disdain with which they consider police officers and how little they think about security in the country if those who are to secure the citizens are in themselves not catered for, how then do you expect them to be happy to carry out their functions,” Bilya Umar said.
Olalekan Adewale, a resident, therefore, urged the federal government to stop paying lips service to providing security to citizens by actually properly securing the operatives. “The federal government should take especial interest in the welfare of its police officers and providing suitable accommodation for them is definitely one way of demonstrating its commitment to this course,” he said.