All over the country, it is the same age long story of deplorable police accomodation as against other military and paramilitary services. TEMITOPE MUSOWO reports.No doubt, the sorry state of police barracks all over the country has been under-reported in the media; it is therefore no longer news that barracks across the country are in bad shape, a replica of a slum, full of dilapidated buildings, with filthy environment and lacking in basic amenities like water, electricity and other essentials as compared to the army, navy air force and others.That is why the popular saying that, “I do not want my children to grow up in the barracks” always emanates from an average Nigerian including policemen, especially those within what is known as the rank and file. It is however not a surprise because it is a statement particularly symptomatic of the state of police barracks. Compared to other military barracks in the country, police personnel living in these barracks seem like children of a lesser gods. If cleanliness is truly next to godliness, these men must be living several kilometres away from God.There is also this general assumption that majority of children raised in the barracks have the tendency to be wayward because the congested and overcrowded barracks are always full of negative influences, an assumption that has been proven to be true with little exemptions. To say the state of these barracks do not have any negative effect on the performance of police personnel is like denying that ASUU strike has no negative influence on the education of undergraduate children.
How this affects police performance
One is forced to imagine if the policemen in officers cadre and those within the rank and file seen daily on the roads actually belong to the same profession given the differences in their behaviour and human relations. Investigation shows that while the senior officers are always civil, friendly and courteous in their approach, the junior ones approach everyone with the eye of suspicion as if to say one is a criminal at first sight.”Can you believe the neatly dressed CP Odumosu or Frank Mba, for instance, belonging to the same force with that gun-wielding, rag tagged and poorly dressed policeman who jumps in front of your car for no reason other than extortion draw from the same pool”? asked a man who simply identified himself as Mr Kennedy.”With the senior officers, it is easy to believe the mantra, ‘police is your friend’, but an encounter with the black uniformed man on the road makes the mantra a lie of the century.”Do you still wonder why these junior police personnel on the road behave the way they do? The difference is simply in their welfare,” he noted. Researchers have empirically established a connection between housing quality and mental health. In other words, poor housing afffects people’s emotional, psychological, behavioural health and development.A professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan Professor Alarape A. has this to say about the connection between housing quality and job performance. “The connection between people’s private life and their public life has received attention in recent times, for instance, someone with a troubled marriage no matter how pretentious, would exhibit certain behaviour at work that would make it evidently clear that things are not going well for him at the home front.”Same thing happens when it comes to the quality of the house people live in or call a home. Homes are where people are expected to be safe, comfortable and healthy. A home is supposed to be a source of security and escape from life’s pressure. “However, poor housing can convert a home from a safe heaven to a mental hazard.
Poor-quality housing creates stress and increases mental health problems. This in turn exacerbates depressive or aggressive behaviour which would definitely affect your performance at work especially if your work demands interaction with others,” Prof Alarape explained.
Problem blamed on poor funding
The spokesperson for the Nigeria Police, Frank Mba, in an interaction with Blueprint and other senior journalists explained that poor welfare as a result of poor funding of the force has been largely responsible the police poor performance in certain areas. According to Mba, ”Why is it that our police personnel always do well whenever they go out of the country, either for peacekeeping mission, sports, conferences or whatever. It is because they have all it takes to work. The issue of funding is a major issue here.” Lagos, for instance, has about 110 police stations, only about 20 has police barracks.”Ordinarily, police stations are not supposed to be built where there are no space for barracks, but when big men like you come to an area, for your own security, you start mounting pressure that you need a police stations in your estate. “People call for police station without available land to build barracks attached to it, so policemen deployed to such stations would join those existing barracks meant for other stations, putting pressure on inadequate facilities, then you talk of congestion and all that.”The #EndSARS also exposed some of the inadequacies of our police stations. I think the Police Service Commission is aware of these problems and it is already finding solution to it through Public Private Partnership and this is working.The Police Trust Fund is another area you media should beem your search light, a lot can be achieved through this initiative beyond the normal budget”, the FPRO said. The need for more space and state of stations destroyed during #EndSARS protest CP Odumosu during same interactive session with senior journalists explained the state of the stations destroyed by hoodlums during the last #EndSARS protest.”Most of our police stations do not have enough spcae, and this is having negative effect on fighting crime.”Most of the times, when suspects are arrested, if they test possitive for COVID-19, until they are negative you cannot take them to correctional centres, but a cell that is meant for 20 people would be forced to accommodate 100 people.”Concerning those stations that were destroyed during the EndSARS protest, banks have promised to help us rebuild those stations. The Lagos state governor said he wants the stations to be uniform, so, the building plan is being fine-tuned for uniform buildings.”While the banks are ready with the fund, they need the approved plans from the government. However, I need to let you know that all the police stations burnt down during the EndSARS are all functioning though they need rebuilding”, Odumosu said,
